THE 

WRITINGS  AND  SPEECHES 


OF 


GROVER  CLEVELAND 


J-ron  photograph  by  t'atti  Bros.,  N.  Y. 


PREFACE. 


WITH  Mr.  Cleveland's  consent,  I  have  gathered  into  this 
volume  a  representative  collection  of  the  speeches,  public 
papers,  and  letters  of  a  man  who  has  been  for  many  years  the 
most  prominent  figure  in  his  country.  It  gives,  I  think,  under 
a  fair  classification,  his  opinion  on  all  the  topics  upon  which 
he  has  spoken.  I  am  sure  that,  by  means  of  it,  the  reader 
will  be  able  to  form  a  complete  estimate  of  his  character 
as  it  is  shown  in  his  public  utterances. 

The  matter  has  been  classified  under  twenty-five  chapter 
headings.  No  reader,  however  critical,  can  know  better 
than  myself  how  difficult  it  is  to  make  such  a  classifica 
tion  strictly  accurate  ;  but,  when  it  is  considered  that  Mr. 
Cleveland  has  freely  expressed  his  opinions,  during  the  past 
ten  years,  upon  every  topic  that  interested  his  neighbors  or 
his  countrymen,  and  in  every  form  common  to  public  discus 
sion,  the  result  will,  t  am  inclined  to  believe,  be  fairly  satis 
factory. 

An  attempt  has  been  made,  in  the  index,  to  indicate  every 
thing  so  plainly  that  no  reader  can  have  trouble  in  tracing  what 
Mr.  Cleveland  has  said  upon  any  topic.  Everything  on  the 
tariff  question  could  not  be  placed  in  the  chapter  entitled  "Tax 
ation  and  Revenue."  In  his  first  message  to  the  Common 
Council  of  Buffalo,  and  in  speeches  and  letters  accepting 
nominations,  there  are  paragraphs  giving  his  idea  of  the 


IV  l^KF.FACE. 

principles  of  taxation,  which  must  be  sought  in  them.  The 
same  is  true  of  pensions,  labor,  and  other  questions.  It  is 
believed,  however,  that  a  clew  to  all  these  will  be  supplied  by 
this  completeness  of  the  index. 

The  selections  have  been  arranged  under  each  chapter  head 
ing  in  chronological  order.  This,  I  am  confident,  will  com 
mend  itself  to  readers,  most  of  whom  will,  naturally,  be 
attracted  first  to  some  particular  part  of  the  work,  in  the 
expectation  of  finding  at  once  what  may  have  been  said  upon  a 
question  in  which  they  themselves  are  most  interested.  Under 
the  plan  adopted  this  will  be  easy. 

Parts  of  messages  have  been  separated  and  classified  under 
their  appropriate  headings.  Those  familiar  witli  the  annual 
messages  of  an  Executive  know  them  to  be  composed  of  para 
graphs  treating  of  various  questions.  Such  a  document  is 
subjected  to  no  wrench  when  it  is  separated,  and  the  various 
sections  are  incorporated  under  their  proper  headings. 
Except  in  two  or  three  instances,  each  is  complete,  and  when 
purely  formal  or  local  matter  has  been  omitted,  the  fact  is  in 
dicated  in  the  usual  way.  Every  speech  is  published  in  full. 

The  earlier  speeches  and  letters  have  presented  some 
difficulties.  Most  of  them  have  been  collected  from  the 
newspapers  in  which  they  were  originally  published  ;  some 
after  transmission  by  telegraph.  I  have  had,  however,  some 
advantages  in  collating  such  documents  and  letters.  As 
neither  Mr.  Cleveland  nor  anyone  for  him  had  had  an  oppor 
tunity  to  see  them  or  correct  errors  in  copying  or  trans 
mission,  when  first  published,  he  kindly  consented  to  go 
over  them  with  me,  in  order  to  correct  misprints  and 
to  suggest  the  proper  reading  in  a  document  which  has 
pu/xlcd  by  a  text  hopelessly  mixed  by  some  printer.  I  have 


PREFACE.  V 

also  compared  the  documents,  as  carefully  as  possible,  with 
official  copies,  and  have  been  enabled,  by  these  precautions, 
to  correct  a  good  many  errors.  In  some  cases  I  have  done 
this  by  reference  to  manuscript  documents  in  my  possession. 
Most  of  the  later  speeches  have  presented  no  serious  diffi 
culty,  because  the  proofs  were  carefully  read  when  they  were 
first  published. 

Before  Mr.  Cleveland's  retirement  from  the  Presfdency, 
neither  he  nor  anybody  for  him  had  kept  his  speeches 
with  anything  like  system.  I  have  found  it  necessary  to  make 
a  careful  search  in  order  to  discover  some  of  the  earlier 
speeches,  some  of  which  I  found,  upon  inquiry,  Mr.  Cleveland 
himself  had  forgotten.  Since  March,  1889,  I  have  carefully 
preserved  copies  of  speeches  and  letters  with  the  purpose, 
now  carried  out,  of  issuing  them  in  book  form. 

So,  if  there  are  faults  in  editing  or  arrangement,  they  are 
mine.  Mr.  Cleveland  has  done  no  more  than  I  have  said. 
He  merely  gave  me  absolute  authority  to  make  the  collection 
in  such  way  as  I  chose,  and  I  have  done  the  best  I  could 
in  both  gathering  and  arranging  it  in  such  a  way  as  to  make 
it  effective  to  students  of  our  political  history. 

G.  F.  P. 


INTRODUCTION. 


THE  present  generation  of  readers,  studious  of  the  history 
of  our  earlier  days,  and  curious  as  to  the  lives  and  ideas  of 
the  men  who  made  that  history,  has  demanded  new  and  com 
plete  collections  of  the  works  of  the  fathers  of  the  republic. 
Two  new  editions  of  the  writings  of  Washington  compete 
for  favor  ;  and  when,  in  1885,  a  change  in  party  supremacy 
brought  to  the  Presidency  the  representative  of  opinions  long 
excluded  from  our  national  policy,  an  increased  demand 
at  once  arose  for  the  works  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  When  the 
agitation  of  a  great  fiscal  problem  was  begun  in  earnest  in 
1887,  the  advocates  of  the  protective  policy  could  find  nothing 
better  to  illustrate  their  theories  than  by  a  recurrence  to 
the  report  on  Manufactures  made  by  Alexander  Hamilton, 
while  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  the  administration  of  our 
first  President.  Interest  in  the  opinions  of  men  in  our  later 
history  has  also  been  revived  until  the  works  even  of  those 
within  very  recent  times — always  less  accurately  known  than 
those  more  remote — have  been  added  to  the  list.  This  im 
pulse  has  adorned  our  political  literature  with  many  studies  of 
great  value  to  the  future  historian,  and  has  enabled  the 
reader  of  to-day  to  estimate,  with  some  approach  to  accuracy, 
the  character  and  achievements  of  the  leaders  of  thought  and 
action  who  have  preceded  him  in  the  arena  of  politics. 

No  apology,   then,   is   necessary   for  bringing  together  the 


Vlii  INTRODUCTION. 

writings  and  speeches  of  a  man  who,  during  the  past  ten 
years,  has  so  profoundly  influenced  the  thought  and  action  of 
his  countrymen,  and  who  has  held,  with  the  highest  accept 
ance,  the  greatest  official  place  in  the  gift  of  his  fellow-men. 
Nor  can  it  be  deemed  inappropriate  if  such  a  work  is  accom 
panied  by  a  modest  attempt  to  analyze  in  some  degree  the 
character  of  the  man,  as  shown  by  his  public  utterances,  or  to 
measure  the  elements  that  gave  him,  within  so  brief  a  time,  a 
unique  position  in  the  affections  of  his  countrymen,  and  made 
him  a  power  in  a  great  nation. 

In  the  rise  and  development  of  our  public  men,  the  legis 
lative  body  has  been  so  conspicuous  in  their  training  that 
it  might  not  unfairly  be  termed  the  fitting  school  for  the 
Presidency.  Of  the  twenty-three  men  who  have  filled  that 
august  place,  all  but  four  saw  service — most  of  them  compara 
tively  early  in  life— in  Continental  Congresses,  in  Constitu 
tional  Conventions,  in  one  or  the  other  House  of  Congress,  or 
in  State  Legislatures.  Many  of  them  were  conspicuous  figures 
in  such  bodies,  and  the  result  in  some  instances  was  that  their 
aspirations  were  early  directed  toward  the  lofty  place  which 
they  were  finally  called  to  fill. 

Some  were  thus  brought  prominently  before  their  country, 
men,  in  important  positions,  during  a  long  term  of  years. 
Thus,  Washington  did  not  reach  the  Presidency  until  fourteen 
years  after  he  had  become  the  most  conspicuous  soldier  of  the 
New  World  ;  nor  Jefferson  until  a  quarter  of  a  century  after 
he  had  made  his  name  immortal  by  writing  the  Declaration  of 
Independence.  It  was  not  until  twenty-one  years  after  he  did 
his  great  work  of  collaboration  in  the  writing  of  the  "  Federal 
ist"  that  Madison  became  President.  John  Quincy  Adams 
did  notable  diplomatic  work  thirty-one  years  prior  to  his  elec- 


INTRODUCTION.  ix 

tion  as  President  ;  and  his  rival  and  successor,  Jackson,  did  not 
finally  reach  the  goal  of  his  ambition  until  thirty-two  years 
after  he  had  entered  public  life,  as  the  first  representative  of 
the  then  new  State  of  Tennessee,  in  the  lower  house  of 
Congress.  In  later  times,  James  Buchanan's  legislative  career 
in  Pennsylvania  began  forty-three  years  before  his  inaugura 
tion  as  President,  while  the  like  service  of  Abraham  Lincoln, 
in  Illinois,  preceded  his  culminating  success  by  twenty- 
seven  years. 

Without  multiplying  examples,  it  is  plain  that  the  public 
man  who  reaches  this  high  office  after  such  training  must,  of 
necessity,  leave  behind  him,  upon  his  retirement,  a  great  body 
of  writings  and  speeches.  The  genius  of  our  institutions  both 
permits  and  makes  necessary  the  expression  of  opinion,  by  a 
public  man,  on  a  great  variety  of  topics.  It  is  only  natural, 
however,  that  many  of  the  early  speeches  of  men  thus  trained 
should  have  little  enduring  value.  In  the  inception  of  such 
service,  entered  upon  in  comparative  youth  and  before  the 
character  is  fully  formed,  speeches  are  made  upon  nearly  every 
measure  that  may  be  introduced.  These  may  contribute 
something  to  an  intelligent  understanding  of  an  issue  at  the 
time,  or  even  to  its  settlement ;  but  amid  our  rapidly  changing 
political  conditions,  interest  in  both  the  speech  and  the  ques 
tion  is  soon  lost.  In  most  cases  such  oratorical  efforts  remain 
little  more  than  temporary  contributions  to  an  issue  restricted 
to  a  neighborhood  or  a  State. 

Grover  Cleveland  had  none  of  this  training  in  politics  and 
oratory.  Until  his  inauguration  as  Mayor  of  Buffalo,  in 
January,  1882,  his  experience  and  discipline  were  entirely  pro 
fessional.  While  an  assistant  to  the  District  Attorney  of  Erie 
County,  New  York— his  first  independent  position  as  a 


x  INTRODUCTION. 

lawyer— he  was  constantly  engaged  in  the  work  belonging 
to  a  prosecuting  officer.  His  speeches  then  had  the  same 
characteristics  that  have  distinguished  his  public  utterances 
since  he  came  into  political  prominence.  They  were  short, 
concise,  carefully  prepared,  and  never  labored  or  showy  either 
in  matter  or  in  delivery.  His  manner  of  speaking  was 
earnest,  well  adapted,  then  as  now,  to  both  subject  and 
audience.  His  cases  were  submitted  with  clear  and  direct 
statements  of  the  law  and  the  facts,  and  his  arguments  were 
made  with  such  care  that  neither  judge,  jury,  nor  culprit  had 
reason  to  complain  of  being  bored  with  the  loose,  rambling 
legal  talks  so  often  indulged  in  by  prosecuting  officials. 

From   1866  to  1882— with   the  exception  of  the  years  be 
tween  1871  and  1874— he  was  engaged  in  the  active  and  un 
remitting  practice  of  his  profession.     He  had  for  his  associates 
the  best  lawyers  of  the  large  city  in  which  he  lived,  and  as  he 
was  brought  into  contact,  before  the  Courts,  with  the  recog 
nized  leaders  of  his  profession,  he  met  his  growing  responsi 
bilities   with    confidence    and    success.      He    proved    himself 
equal  to  each  new  duty.     He  was  actively  engaged  in  politics 
only  so  far  as  an  interest  in  local  affairs  or  in  the  struggles  of 
his  party  were  involved.     He  seldom  made  a  political  speech, 
but  his  increasing  professional  labors  kept    him   in  constant 
training  as  a  speaker,  and  he  easily  met  the  demands  of  his 
new  position  in  this  respect  as  in  all  others.     He  took  part  in 
memorial  meetings  held  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  last  trib 
ute  of  respect  to  members  of  his  profession,  and  the  earliest 
speech  in  this  volume  is  that  on  the  character  of  Oscar  Folsom, 
his  former   partner   and   dearest    friend,  in    July,   1875.     He 
made  others  of  the  same  kind,  and  achieved  such  success  that 
he  was  called  upon  to  bear  his  part  on  these  occasions  at  his 


INTKOn  UCT10N.  XI 

old  home  even  after  his  election  to  the  Governorship  of  his 
State.  His  judgment  of  men  was  shown,  to  be  just  and  dis 
criminating,  and  his  habit  of  careful  preparation  stood  him  in 
good  stead.  Another  part  of  his  training  and  practice  that 
contributed  much  to  his  skill  in  saying  clearly  what  he  had 
in  mind,  was  his  work  in  drawing  indictments  and  other  law 
papers.  To  a  natural  facility  for  expression,  he  thus  added 
a  most  exacting  training. 

It  was  not,  then,  a  man  untrained  to  clear  and  accurate  state 
ment,  or  unused  to  effective  and  eloquent  speech,  that  as 
tonished  his  neighbors  and  the  people — always  ready  to  wel 
come  the  advent  of  a  man  with  ideas  and  character — 
by  those  vigorous  messages  which  soon  commanded  attention 
from  the  people  of  a  great  State.  As  the  result  of  this  fitness 
for  important  place,  Mr.  Cleveland  had  an  advantage 
never  before  enjoyed  by  a  public  man.  Almost  from  the  be 
ginning  of  his  career — it  was  only  a  year  after  these  earliest 
messages  until  he  had  become  Governor  of  the  great  State  of 
New  York — he  was  able  to  make  his  appeal  to  the  waiting 
people  of  a  nation,  on  all  the  great  problems  in  which  they  were 
interested. 

In  spite  of  the  demonstrated  possession  of  effective  oratorical 
powers,  Mr.  Cleveland  made  but  few  speeches  before  his  in 
auguration  as  President.  Into  these  he  condensed  much 
thought  and  food  for  thought.  They  were  prepared  with  care, 
as  neither  then  nor  since  has  he  permitted  even  the  most  ex 
acting  public  duties  to  make  him  careless  either  as  to  thought 
or  form.  He  knew  what  he  wanted  to  say,  or  studied  until  he 
found  out,  and  then  showed  that  he  could  say  it  to  advan 
tage.  His  speeches  were  quotable.  They  were  filled  with 
epigrams  and  pithy  sentences,  easy  of  recollection  for  reader 


XH  IN'IKODUCTION. 

or  hearer,  and  as  they  were  short,  everyone  interested  in  the 
question  was  sure  to  read  and  to  recommend  them  to  his  associ 
ates.  His  manner  of  delivery  was  earnest,  and  he  early  learned 
the  art  of  putting  himself  into  sympathetic  relations  with  his 
audience.  He  did  not  speak  until  he  felt  that  he  had 
something  his  countrymen  needed  to  be  told,  and  was 
early  recognized  as  a  man  who  did  not  make  speeches  merely 
for  the  sake  of  talking,  or  with  the  purpose  of  attracting 
attention  to  himself.  He  showed  a  willingness  to  discuss 
the  various  and  varied  problems  of  our  social  and  political 
life,  without  pushing  himself  forward  or  shirking  the  expres 
sion  of  opinion. 

One   of   Mr.  Cleveland's  claims  to  distinction   lies    in    the 
fact  that  he  was  the  first  President  to  take  the  country  en 
tirely  away  from  the  prejudices  and  traditions  of  the  Civil 
War,  while  still  preserving  the  great  moral   lessons  that  made 
it  so  real  as  an  influence  on  national   life  and  character.     It 
was  his  good 'fortune  to  restore  perfect  confidence  between  the 
elements  of  a  people  long   widely  sundered.     This  had  been 
talked  about  by  every    President  and   public   man   for   a   full 
score  of  years  ;  but   his  predecessors  could  not  escape  from 
their  environment,  or  fully  recognize  the   fact  that  old  things 
had  passed  away  and  that  all  things  were   become   new.     The 
war  left  many  problems,  some  of  them   more  serious  than  a 
civilized  nation  had  ever  before  known.     But  struggle  or  dream 
as  he  might,  during  the  long  period  under  discussion,  no  Pres 
ident  could  get  away  from  prejudice  and   partisanship.     The 
one  great  overmastering  issue  had  been  settled  by  the  stern 
arbitrament   of   war.      When    it    no    longer    remained    as   a 
reality  ,t  was  still   left  to  do  duty  as  a  tradition.     Giant  abuses 
had  followed  its  settlement  and  in  order  to  correct  them  the 


INTRODUCTION.  xin 

courage  of  the  soldier  must  give  way  to  that  civic  courage 
so  rare  among  men,  and  so  valuable  to  a  people.  This  could  not 
be  found  at  once,  and  yet  no  perfect  readjustment  was  possible 
until  it  was  found,  and  the  man  representing  it  was  installed 
in  a  commanding  place. 

Mr.  Cleveland  was  elected  President,  and  as  the  result  of 
his  wisdom,  prudence,  and  foresight  the  war  became  merely  an 
episode  in  our  country's  history.  It  was  a  glorious  memory  ; 
not  a  living  issue  about  which  parties  must  divide  or  men 
quarrel.  The  "conscious  nationality,"  for  which  Lowell 
had  longed,  had  come  at  last.  The  last  canvass  had  been 
conducted  on  the  ideas  of  twenty  years  before  ;  we  now  found 
a  man  whose  patriotic  aspirations  were  not  bounded  by  the 
next  election.  Our  national  horizon  was  enlarged,  and  with 
this  wider  view,  new  thoughts  and  sentiments  were  aroused. 
The  past  was  now  so  secure  that  both  duty  and  necessity 
compelled  a  great  people  to  look  to  the  future  with  ear 
nestness  and  hope.  Coming  thus  into  the  new  conditions  which 
he  did  so  much  to  create,  there  is  nowhere  in  Mr.  Cleveland's 
utterances  any  regret  that  the  past  had  left  problems  for  him 
and  his  generation  to  solve.  He  turns  always  with  confidence 
and  hope  to  the  new  duties  that  lie  before  his  country  or 
confront  its  leaders  and  people. 

When  courage,  tempered  by  conscience,  were  combined  with 
the  power  inhering  in  a  great  office,  the  value  of  the  resulting 
service  was  simply  incalculable.  Mr.  Cleveland  has  always 
impressed  his  countrymen  with  his  belief  that,  however 
bad  the  conditions  or  the  men  they  had  produced,  the  virtue 
and  intelligence  of  his  countrymen  were  potent  to  save 
from  the  gravest  perils.  Yet  he  is  not  one  of  those  who,  call 
ing  themselves  optimists,  affect  to  believe  that  things  will  come 


xiv  INTRODUCTION. 

right  without  an  effort  to  make  them  so,  and  as  he  has  al 
ways  emphasized  the  doctrine  that  the  individual  must  work 
and  struggle  with  temptation  and  danger  in  order  that  he  may 
find  or  create  opportunity,  so  to  him  the  nation,  the  State, 
or  the  community,  is  only  an  aggregation  of  units,  and  cannot 
escape,  without  effort,  the  consequences  of  weakness,  selfish 
ness,  or  wrongdoing. 

He  never  looks  upon  a  temporary  abuse  as  a  necessary 
effect  or  fixture  of  government  by  the  people.  So,  always 
and  everywhere,  he  emphasizes  the  necessity  for  patriotic 
effort.  His  exhortation  to  care  and  watchfulness  shows  how 
deeply  seated  is  the  sentiment  of  faith  in  the  right.  With  him 
appeal  lies  to  the  good  sense,  the  ingrained  probity,  the  moral 
purposes  of  his  fellow-men.  He  insists  everywhere  that  if 
these  are  good  in  private  life,  and  if  the  individual  finds  them 
desirable  and  necessary,  it  is  still  more  important  that  the 
same  principles  shall  animate  the  mass  when  it  takes  the  form 
of  organized  society.  His  speeches  and  letters  show  not  the 
least  sign  of  demagogy.  He  no  more  appeals  to  the  base  pas 
sions  of  men  when  they  are  associated,  than  he  would  if  they 
could  be  resolved  into  their  original  units. 

His  countrymen  already  know  Mr.  Cleveland  as  a  man  of 
tender  heart,  kindly  toward  his  neighbors  and  the  world,  con 
siderate  of  the  interests  of  all,  and  indifferent  to  nothing 
human.  They  will  find  in  his  writings  and  speeches,  here 
massed  together,  new  and  emphatic  evidence  of  this  sentiment. 
He  is  interested  in  political  problems  because,  in  his  view, 
their  discussion  and  right  settlement  will  promote  the  happi 
ness  of  his  fellow-men.  He  insisted  upon  the  honest  and 
decent  conduct  of  the  affairs  of  a  city,  because  he  believed 
that  the  health,  prosperity,  and  happiness  of  its  people  would 


INTRODUCTION.  xv 

be  promoted,  and  he  has  shown  that  he  believes  the  welfare 
of  the  people  of  a  State  or  a  great  nation  should  be  the  first 
concern  of  the  men  chosen  to  direct  its  destinies. 

He  emphasizes,  at  all  times,  the  duty  of  economy  and  thrift, 
both  public  and  private,  because  of  his  conviction  that  a  plain 
and  prosperous  people  must  be  a  contented  and  a  happy  one  ; 
and  insists,  with  even  more  emphasis,  that  fine  houses, 
great  fortunes,  and  material  prosperity  should  be  only  means  to 
an  end,  and  that  end  the  greatest  good  of  all.  He  saves  the 
taxpayers'  money  from  misappropriation,  when  convinced  that 
its  expenditure  is  wrong  or  that  it  is  about  to  be  devoted  to 
"useless  or  questionable  purposes.  He  refuses  to  permit  the  be 
stowal  of  a  pension  upon  an  unworthy  claimant,  because  it 
would  do  violence  to  the  sentiment  of  honesty  that  animates 
him.  While  his  kindness  of  heart  is  everywhere  apparent,  in 
act  as  well  as  in  speech,  he  does  not  permit  himself  to  do  an  act 
of  charity  with  money  derived  from  taxation,  when  placed  at 
his  disposal  by  reason  of  his  official  position,  even  though  it 
might  commend  itself  as  worthy  if  appeal  were  made  to  him 
as  an  individual. 

So,  while  he  is  the  most  practical  of  men,  he  is  made  so 
because  every  action  is  dictated  by  honor  and  duty.  This 
faculty  has  enabled  him  to  appeal  to  his  countrymen  in  his 
individual  right.  With  exalted  conceptions  of  the  dignity  of 
a  great  office,  and  the  ability  and  courage  to  fix  the  very 
highest  standard  in  act,  as  well  as  in  theory,  his  country 
men  have  given  him  the  perfect  ^confidence  that  comes  to  few 
public  men — a  confidence  that  never  comes  to  the  servant  of 
the  people  unless  he  is  at  the  same  time  a  high  type  of  man, 
morally  as  well  as  intellectually. 

A  man  of  this  kind  deals  only  with  the  serious  concerns  of 


xvl 


life.     He  does  not  take  a  light  view  of   them.     Though   his 
sense  of  humor  is   keen,  and   he  can    hold    unworthy    men  or 
groveling  ideas   up  to   ridicule   in  the   most   effective  way,  he 
could  not  make  a  joke  on  any  question  that  had  a  moral  issue  in 
it,  or  on  the  character  of  George  Washington.     It  is  an  inter 
esting  fact  that  such   serious  discussion  should  be  welcomed 
from  a  man  of  elevated  character  with  a  great  official  dignity 
behind   it.     The  number   of  public   men   who  can  command 
the  attention  of  their  countrymen  upon   the  most  important 
business  problems   is  not  large,  and  much  of  Mr.   Cleveland's 
unquestioned  popularity  arises  from  the  fact  that  he  is  the  one 
President,  since  the  war  period,  who  has  gained  the  unreserved" 
confidence    of    his   countrymen    on    great    fiscal    questions. 
Whatever  men  may  think  of  his  party  affiliations  or  his  views 
of  public  policy,  there  is  agreement  in  the  judgment  that  he 
will  conduct  the  financial  affairs  of   the   nation  with  unques 
tioned  safety.     The  secret  of  all  this  lies  in  the  fact  that  he 
applies   to  every  question  as   it  affects  the    public   the    well- 
grounded  moral  principles  which,  according  to  his  view,  ought 
to  govern  men  in  their  individual  relations. 

It  has  been  fortunate  for  Mr.  Cleveland  and  his  countrymen 
that  he  was  a  man  of  mature  years  and  thought  before  he 
began  to  speak,  and  that,  from  the  beginning  of  his  public 
career,  he  has  never  spoken  at  random.  He  did  not  have  to 
conduct  any  oratorical  experiments  at  the  expense  of  his 
hearers  in  order  to  make  his  art  useful.  He  was  forty-four 
years  old  when,  in  those  remarkable  messages  to  the  Common 
Council  of  Buffalo,  he  began  a  public  career  which,  in  a  little 
more  than  three  years,  led  him  to  the  White  House.  He  had 
learned  to  write  and  speak  well  while  he  was  engaged 
"I'ul  Mly  in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  But  he 


IN  TROD  UC  TION.  X  Vll 

had  something  infinitely  better  and  more  effective  than  a  gift 
for  saying  things  plainly  and  well.  He  had  something  to  say. 
He  had  gone  in  and  oiu  before  his  neighbors,  studying  their 
needs  and  forming  an  opinion  about  the  best  way  to  correct 
the  evils  that  he  saw  about  him.  With  this  knowledge  of  the 
existence  of  abuses,  and  his  habit  of  carefully  studying  every 
question  as  it  came  before  him,  he  had  no  difficulty  in  mastering 
it  in  all  its  bearings  and  in  suggesting  a  remedy. 

His  speeches  and  public  papers  are  not  mere  pointers  on  the 
political  weather-vane,  or  the  exposition  of  something  that  has 
already  become  popular.  He  deems  it  his  duty  to  direct 
attention  to  wrongs,  and  when  he  finds  a  great  one  he  attacks  it 
with  the  same  intelligence  and  energy  that  he  shows  when  deal 
ing  with  the  many  smaller  ones  included  in  it.  He  does  not  seek 
to  alarm  or  to  punish  only  petty  offenders  who  are  weak,  in 
order  to  impress  the  public,  while  big  and  strong  ones  are 
left  to  escape.  He  shirks  nothing.  He  will  veto,  ruthlessly, 
an  ordinance  awarding  a  city  contract  to  a  political  and  per 
sonal  friend,  when  he  knows  that  the  bid  is  too  high,  or  that 
bad  methods  have  been  employed  to  secure  it.  He  cannot  be 
induced  to  sign  a  bill  for  the  reason  that  a  political  friend  may 
think  it  useful  to  his  own  party.  If  his  power  is  enlarged,  he 
considers  that  his  responsibility  is  increased  in  even  a  greater 
ratio.  While  he  may  condemn  the  cowardice  that  unnecessarily 
puts  responsibility  upon  him,  he  does  not  shirk  it  and  make 
excuse  because  a  legislative  body  has  dealt  unfairly  with  him 
and  the  public  interests.  He  applies  to  each  case  the  test  of 
morality  as  well  as  that  of  good  sense,  and  emphasizes  his 
belief  that  principle,  as  well  as  policy,  is  involved  in  every 
measure  brought  to  him  for  action,  and  in  every  cause  upon 
which  he  may  be  called  to  express  an  opinion. 


xviii  INTRODUCTION. 

His   utterances  have  a  consistency  seldom  found  in  those 
of  public   men   who  have  come  to  high  places.     This  does 
not  arise  from  an  obstinate  attachment  to  opinions   simply 
because    he    has  formed    or   expressed  them.      As    he   seeks 
to   measure   every  question  by  its   moral    bearings,    and    has 
done  so  all  his  life,   he  is  not  forced  to  argue  himself  int.. 
the     conclusion     that    the     thing      that     was     right     when 
applied  to  the  business  management  of  his  city,  can  be  wrong 
because  the  affairs  or  the  business  of   the  United   States  are 
involved.     He  will  not  do  a  thing,  or  refuse  to  do  it,  in  order 
to  impress  the  public.     So  far  as  official  action  or  the  expres 
sion  of  opinion  on  any  public  question   is  concerned,  his  own 
candidacy  for  an  office,  or  the  seeking  of  support,  is   not   in 
his  thought.     If  votes  come  to  him  or  his  party  because  he  has 
done  an  honest  or  a  courageous  thing,  he  welcomes  them  ;  but  if 
he  is  expected  to  win  them  by  either  doing  a  wrong  or  winking 
at  it,  he  will  not  so  much  as  consider  it,  and   that  would  be  a 
bold  man  who  would  dare  propose  it ;  nor  does  he  have  to  con 
vince  himself  in  order  to  carry  out  such  a  policy  in  a  respon 
sible  place,  or  to  avow  his  sympathy  with  a  good  cause.     If  the 
existence  of  an  abuse  is  admitted,  and  measures  are  concerted 
to  attack  it,  his  countrymen  are  never  left  long  in  doubt  about 
his  attitude  toward  it,  nor  do  they  ask  themselves  whether  he 
will  have  the  courage  to  avow  his  convictions. 

This  is  well  shown  by  his  position  upon  some  of  the  im 
portant  questions  he  has  been  called  upon  to  deal  with 
in  executive  place.  As  Mayor,  Governor,  and  President,  he 
has  insisted  that  the  abuse  of  the  taxing  power  was  the  most 
serious  known  to  government.  In  his  speech,  accepting  the 
nomination  of  Mayor  of  Buffalo,  he  expressed  the  opinion 
that  "much  can  be  done  to  relieve  our  citizens  from  their 


INTRODUCTION-.  xix 

present  load  of  taxation,"  and  he  insisted  that  "a  more  rigor 
ous  scrutiny  of  all  public  expenditures  will  result  in  a  great 
saving  to  the  community."  The  message  of  1887  is  no  more 
than  this.  There  is  a  change  of  scene,  the  magnitude  of 
the  evils  involved  is  greater,  but  the  principle  is  the  same. 
This  insistence  that  none  but  necessary  taxes  shall  be  levied 
and  that  the  resulting  revenues  must  be  expended  with 
economy,  runs  like  a  thread  through  everything  that  he  has 
said,  and  has  been  a  guiding  principle  in  all  that  he  has  done ; 
and  yet  there  is  nowhere  a  suggestion  of  niggardliness,  or  of  a 
desire  or  willingness  to  put  up  with  bad  work  in  order  that  a 
few  dollars  may  be  saved. 

When,  in  1882,  he  became  a  candidate  for  Governor,  his 
attachment  to  the  principle  of  a  reformed  civil  service  was  as 
warm,  his  understanding  of  it  as  correct,  and  his  arguments 
for  it  as  strong  as  they  are  in  his  latest  message,  speech, 
or  letter.  He  avowed  his  attachment  to  the  doctrines  of  the 
Pendleton  bill  while  it  was  pending  and  showed  that  he  knew 
what  it  meant  then  as  well  as  he  did  after  he  had  applied  its 
principles  in  a  practical  way,  and  had  proved  himself  the 
best  and  most  effective  friend  that  genuine  civil  service  reform 
ever  had. 

When  an  agitation  looking  to  the  reform  of  defective 
election  laws  was  entered  upon,  he  avowed  his  sympathy  with 
it  at  the  first  opportunity,  and  that,  too,  when  he  was  only 
a  private  citizen  and  had  no  responsibilities  either  to  be 
shirked  or  assumed.  He  saw  clearly  that  while  abuses  of  the 
election  laws  were  not  causes,  they  were  at  least  the  most 
serious  of  the  effects  produced  by  a  bad  system.* 

*  The  franchise  is  not  debauched  in  the  interest  of  good  laws  and  honest 
government.  It  is  by  those  who  have  special  interests  to  subserve  at  the 


*x  IN  TROD  UCTION. 

For  many  years,  the  free  coinage  of  silver  has  been  one  of 
the  most  serious  of  our  unsettled  problems.     The  question  had 
been  juggled  with  so  much,  so  many  compromises   and  sub 
terfuges  had  been  resorted  to  that  the  public  mind  and  con 
science  were  much  confused.     To  Mr.  Cleveland  it  has  always 
been  plain.     Its  dangers  were  just  as  clear   to   his  mind  when 
he  was  first  called   upon  to  express  his  opinion  upon  it  as  they 
were  in  February,  1891,  when  he  wrote  a  brief  letter  which  revo 
lutionized    public   sentiment   and  made  impossible  the  adop 
tion  of  such  a  policy  by  his  party  or  Congress.     In  doing  this 
he  saw  clearly  what  the  interests  of  the  masses  of  his  country 
men  demanded,  and  he  fearlessly  took  his  place  on  their  side. 
He  has  the  knack  of  making  new  arguments  as  they  are 
needed.     He  does  not  use  all  his  ammunition  at  once.     If  there 
is  to  be  only  a  skirmish,  he  knows  that  a  musket  may  be  as 
useful  as  a  howitzer,  so  he  saves  something   for  another  skir 
mish  or  the  general  engagement  that  is  certain  to  follow.     The 
greatest  parliamentary  orator  of  the  last  century  had  for  a  col 
league    a    man   whose  only  speech   was  "  I   say  ditto  to  Mr. 
Burke."     Mr.  Cleveland  does  not  resort  to  this  even  with  him 
self.     He  is  not  content  to  repeat,  year   after    year,  the    same 
recommendations  on  a  given  question.     He  brings  to  its  dis 
cussion  new  resources.      He  became  interested  in  the  Indian 
problem,  and   set    forth    his  opinions  in   his  first  message  as 
President,    with    force  and   intelligence.      In  each  succeeding 
message,  special  or  annual,  he  treated  italways  from  a  different 
point  of  view.      He  had  studied   its   new  phases,  in  the  mean- 
people's  expense,  and  not  by  those  whose  interests  are  in  common  with  the 
masses,  that  the  ballot  is  corrupted.     There  are  no  rich  and  powerful  cor 
porations   interested  in  buying  "  floaters"  or  coercing  employees  to  vote  for 
a  reformation  of    our    tariff  laws.—  Interview   in    the    Nashville  American 

I'rhi  ii.ii  y    I  I  ,    I  - 


INTRODUCTION.  xxi 

time,  with  the  same  care  that  he  had  taken  while  it  was  new  and 
strange.  When  all  his  opinion's  on  such  a  question  are  gathered 
together,  they  acquire  almost  as  much  a  connected  form  as 
if,  after  a  careful  study,  he  had  written  an  essay  upon  it. 

An  advantage  of  classification  according  to  subjects  chron 
ologically  is  that  it  shows  no  posing  while  in  one  office  for 
another  of  higher  dignity.  Close  attention  to  the  duty  in  hand, 
a  careful  study  of  existing  conditions  and  surroundings,  the 
waiting  not  for  the  morrow — all  these  are  manifest,  whether 
the  office  be  Mayor,  Governor,  or  President.  In  each,  the 
same  principles  govern  his  action  and  his  sayings  ;  but  there 
is  nothing  in  his  record  while  Mayor,  or  in  his  utterances  while 
holding  that  office,  to  show  that  its  incumbent  was  looking  for 
higher  honors  ;  or  in  his  policy  or  speeches,  while  Governor, 
to  indicate  that  he  thought  the  Presidency  might  be  within 
his  reach.  In  each,  he  attempts  for  himself  to  do  his 
duty,  and  his  exhortation  to  others  is  to  watchfulness,  econ 
omy,  and  strict  attention  to  the  work  in  hand  of  public  ser 
vice.  One  of  the  great  men  of  history  was  wont  to  say  that 
"No  one  rises  so  high  as  he  who  knows  not  whither  he  is 
going  ";  and  its  truth  is  certainly  shown  by  the  career  of  the 
man  who  became  President  of  the  United  States,  without  look 
ing  for  it  or  any  of  the  places  supposed  to  lead  to  it. 

His  speeches  are  all-  brief.  He  seizes  upon  the  idea  or 
point  of  first  importance  or  of  practical  value,  and  presents  it 
with  skill  and  emphasis.  He  does  not  attempt  to  explain  all 
the  steps  he  has  taken  to  reach  a  given  conclusion.  As  he 
does  not  speak  until  he  feels  certain  of  his  opinion  upon  a 
question,  so,  when  he  announces  his  conclusion,  it  has  in  it  a 
positiveness  akin  to  dogmatism.  He  does  not  permit  official 
position,  or  the  dignity  of  an  office  he  has  held,  to  tie  his 


xxii  INTRODUCTION. 

tongue.  Dealing,  as  he  does,  with  principles  and  policies, 
rather  than  with  ^individuals,  his  wonted  plainness  of  speech 
is  not  affected  by  such  an  artificial  dignity. 

He  puts  himself  directly  in  touch  with  the  people,  with  no 
reference  to  anyplace  he  may  have  held,  and  is  so  accustomed 
to  study  the  interest  of  the  masses  of  his  fellow-countrymen, 
rather  than  the  desires  of  a  class,  that  he   has   no  reason   for 
concealment  or  evasion.     He  speaks   to  them  in   plain,  simple 
language,  with  never  an  attempt  to  "  divide  a  hair  'twixt  south 
and  southwest  side."     He   goes  straight   to   his  point.     If  he 
believes  that    some   newspapers  "violate    every    instinct    of 
American  manliness,  and  in  ghoulish   glee    desecrate    every 
sacred  relation  of  private  life,"  he  says  so,  and  he  says  it  to 
the  assembled  representatives  of  the  oldest  and  most  dignified 
educational  institution  in  his  country.     If  he  wishes  to  rebuke 
insolent  partisanship,  he  does  it  by  vetoing  a  measure  favored 
by  his  party  in  his  own  city,  and    insists  upon   it   in  language 
that  nobody  can  misunderstand  or  misinterpret.     At  the  time 
that  he  defeated  this  bad  purpose,  he  declared  :  "  I  believe  in 
an  open  and  sturdy  partisanship  ;  but  parties  were  made  for 
the  people,  and  I  am  unwilling,  knowingly,  to  give  my  assent 
to  measures  purely  partisan,  which  will  sacrifice  or  endanger 
their  interests."*     In  this  case,  the  just  precept  accompanied 
the   saving  action,  and  as  showing  his  consistency  he  epito 
mized    this    opinion  many    years    later,    by  declaring,  in    an 
interview,  that  "  party  honesty  is  party  expediency." 

Two   chapters  of   this  book  are   given  up  to  his  advice  to 

members  of   his  own   party;  but  there   is  nowhere  a  line,  the 

motive  of   which   is    partisan  and    nothing  more.      In   every 

speech   or  letter  to  a  Democratic   meeting  or  club  will    be 

*  Message  vetoing  the  amendments  to  the  Buffalo  charter,  April  9,  1883. 


INTRODUCTION.  xxiii 

found  the  expression  of  the  loftiest  patriotism.  He  believes 
in  his  party,  but  insists  that  it  shall  be  true  to  its  ideas  and 
principles ;  that  it  shall  reach  the  people  of  the  country 
through  their  conscience,  and  that  it  shall  have  the  impulses 
and  purposes  of  patriotism,  not  the  hope  that  springs  from 
selfishness  in  the  individual  or  the  mass,  or  the  ambition  that 
is  aroused  only  by  the  love  of  power.  In  point  of  fact,  he 
does  not  lower  his  standard  when  he  addresses  a  meeting  of 
his  party  friends,  recognizing  that  if  one-half  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen  make  a  public  policy,  it  ought  to  be  one  that  pro 
motes  the  interests  of  all  of  them.  Nothing  ignoble  is  sug 
gested  or  even  left  to  inference  ;  there  is  nowhere  a  hint  that 
questionable  means  might  be  employed  by  a  candidate,  in  order 
to  insure  success,  or  by  a  party  in  order  that  it  may  secure 
or  maintain  supremacy. 

Mr.  Cleveland's  writings  and  speeches  have  little  of  the  per 
sonal  or  autobiographic  element.  He  seldom  draws  directly 
upon  his  own  career  or  public  service  for  an  illustration.  He 
does  not  say  :  "  I  did  so  and  so  at  such  and  such  a  time." 
And  yet  his  opinions  are,  in  large  degree,  the  result  of  his 
own  experience.  Few  of  them  have  come  from  inheritance 
or  from  a  merely  scholastic  study  of  a  question.  They  re 
flect  his  early  surroundings,  or  come  from  his  close  relations 
with,  and  intimate  knowledge  of,  men.  His  life  has  been  one 
of  intelligent  effort  and  great  success  ;  so,  if  he  seeks  to  en 
force  upon  his  countrymen  the  value  of  hard  work,  he  but 
cons  anew  the  lesson  of  his  own  life.  He  insists  upon  the 
most  scrupulous  regard  for  public  honesty,  because  he  believes 
this  to  be  as  plainly  his  duty  as  it  is  to  pay  his  debts  or  to  tell 
the  truth.  He  appreciates  Washington's  tenderness  for  his 
mother  because  he  himself  showed  the  same  filial  love  and 


*  x  i v  tNTRODUC  TION. 

devotion,  and  looked  to  his  widowed  mother  for  guidance  and 
comfort  during  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  he  had 
left  his  home.  He  sympathizes  the  more  keenly  with  chanties 
and  the  poor,  because  his  early  experiences  made  him 
acquainted  with  the  hardships  of  plain  people  in  all  the  rela 
tions  of  life. 

It  is  not  necessary,  in  considering  Mr.  Cleveland's  style,  to 
seek  a  model  for  it.  He  is  simply  an  example  of  a  man  who 
uses  speech  to  express  his  thoughts,  having  no  sympathy 
with  Voltaire's  definition,  which  reverses  this  process.  He  fits 
manner  to  matter  with  ease,  and  expresses  his  ideas  with  no 
less  of  grace  than  of  force  ;  but  he  never  strives  for  effect 
or  show.  Some  of  his  messages  to  Congress  have  a  beauty 
and  fineness  of  expression  that  make  them  rare  and  notable  of 
their  kind.  Many  of  his  speeches  appeal  to  the  educated, 
by  the  felicity  of  their  expression,  quite  as  distinctly  as  they 
do  to  the  plain  people  of  the  land  by  their  manly  vigor 
and  unquestioned  good  sense.  At  times,  his  utterance  is 
Hebraic  in  its  plainness  of  speech,  as  it  is  in  the  loftiness  of 
thought  and  motive.  Whether  in  commendation  of  the  right,  or 
in  condemnation  of  the  wrong,  his  meaning  is  as  clear  as  sun 
shine,  and  no  man,  however  plain,  can  have  excuse  for  mis 
understanding  a  single  word  ;  and  none,  however  refined, 
can,  with  the  least  reason,  charge  him  with  making  appeal 
to  groveling  tastes,  or  with  seeking  to  promote  personal 
ambitions  or  interests. 

In  spite  of  the  growing  influence  of  the  press,  of  which 
we  hear  so  much  these  days,  or,  it  may  be,  because  of 
it,  there  has  never  been  a  time  when  the  written  or  spoken 
words  of  the  man  fitted  to  lead  had  so  much  influence 
upon  thr  formation  of  individual  opinion,  or  upon  that  peculiar 


INTRODUCTION.  xxv 

product  called  public  sentiment.  Whatever  the  man  of  vig 
orous  mind  and  personality  and  rugged  honesty  may  say, 
the  people  of  this  and  every  other  free  country  are  waiting 
to  hear  it  as  they  never  waited  before. 

In  spite  of  the  development  of  localism,  there  is  an  almost 
universal  desire  to  hear  something  from  the  men  who  have 
risen  so  far  superior  to  its  trammels  that  they  can  be  trusted 
to  consider  the  good  of  all  rather  than  the  desires  of  the  few. 
During  recent  years  none  has  won  this  public  confidence  in  so 
high  a  degree  as  the  man  whose  thoughts,  on  a  great  variety 
of  questions,  are  here  brought  together  in  collected  form. 
Some  of  this  may  come  because  he  has  filled  acceptably 
an  exalted  office  ;  but  most  of  it  arises  from  the  fact  that 
he  has  held  the  strong  and  sensible  opinions  that  gave  new 
dignity  and  importance  to  a  place  with  great  power  and 
opportunities  and  that  he  has  always  expressed  them  with 
freedom  and  emphasis. 

This  is  well  shown  by  the  position  he  has  held  as  the 
apostle  of  a  great  idea  since  his  retirement  from  the  Presi 
dency.  Not  only  has  he  remained  the  first  citizen  of  his 
country,  but  he  has  kept  this  place  because  he  had  gained 
and  never  abused  the  confidence  of  his  countrymen.  Behind 
all  that  he  has  said  were  the  great,  sturdy  character,  the 
trained  intelligence,  and  the  tender  heart  of  a  man  who  had 
risen  superior  to  personal  ambitions  or  comfort,  one  who  had 
demonstrated,  during  all  his  public  career,  whether  in  or  out 
of  place,  his  devotion  to  the  true  interests  of  the  people,  and 
his  indifference  to  praise  or  blame  when  advocacy  of  their  in 
terests  demanded  the  telling  of  the  whole  truth.  His  country 
men  have  rewarded  this  unselfishness  with  the  most  devoted 
attention.  In  the  remotest  parts  of  the  Union,  that  he  has 


XXV1  INTRODUCTION. 

done  so  much  to  render  more  perfect,  his  words  have  been 
read  with  the  same  attention  they  commanded  from  those  who 
listened  to  them  in  a  banqueting  hall  or  in  a  political  meeting. 
Such  a  position  is  not  the  result  of  accident  or  merely  a 
tribute  to  an  office  from  which  its  holder  has  retired,  or  to 
which  he  may  even  be  called  again.  It  is  due  to  the  fact 
that,  though  a  people  may  wait  long  for  a  man  of  power,  it 
knows  him  when  he  comes,  and  gives  him  the  recognition  he 
deserves.  Such  a  man  has  a  double  claim  to  favor,  that  for 
things  said  as  well  as  for  things  done.  In  the  one  case  it 
makes  Grover  Cleveland  the  recognized  friend  of  every  good 
cause,  whether  he  is  able  to  promote  it  with  official  power 
or  not;  in  the  other,  it  makes  him,  in  public  station,  the 
active  promoter  of  the  doctrines  to  which  he  may  have 
given  his  adhesion  as  a  citizen. 

The  works  of  such  a  man,  still  living  among  his  country 
men  and  potent  in  every  good  cause,  may  well  challenge 
attention  and  command  study. 

GEORGE  F.  PARKER. 
NEW  YORK,  June  25,  1892. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER 

PREFACE,      ...  ii> 

INTRODUCTION,          .......  vii 

I.  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS  ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS,  .  i 

II.  INAUGURAL  MESSAGE  AND  SPEECHES,     .  28 

III.  CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM,     ...  38 

IV.  TAXATION  AND  REVENUE,       ...  62 

V.  CENTENNIAL  AND  ANNIVERSARY  CELEBRATIONS,  107 

VI.  To  FARMERS'  ORGANIZATIONS,         .  133 

VII.  To  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS,  144 

VIII.  To  RELIGIOUS  AND  CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS,  .  178 

IX.  ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES,  203 

X.  ON  EDUCATIONAL  AND  PATRIOTIC  QUESTIONS,       .  215 

XI.  To  POLITICAL  CLUBS  AND  ORGANIZATIONS,  242 

XII.  SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL  CANVASSES,  296 

XIII.  ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS,  329 

XIV.  THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  WASHINGTON,  348 

XV.  THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER,           ...  363- 

XVI.  ON  PENSIONS  AND  TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS,  375 

XVII.  THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM,       ....  4°8 

XVIII.  THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN,      ...  424 

XIX.  SOME  NOTABLE  VETOES,     .         .  433 

XX.  CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES,  4^2 

XXI.  ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN,       .        .  480 

XXII.  THE  MAINTENANCE  OF  NATIONAL  HONOR**/  .  498 

XXIII.  MISCELLANEOUS  RECOMMENDATIONS,  512 

XXIV.  THANKSGIVING  PROCLAMATIONS,      . 

XXV.   LETTERS  AND  SPKECHES  OF  A  PERSONAL  NATURE,     .         .     533 


THE  WRITINGS  AND  SPEECHES  OF 

GROVER  CLEVELAND 


CHAPTER   I. 

SPEECHES    AND    LETTERS     ACCEPTING     NOMINATIONS. 

I. 

Speech  before  City  Convention,  Buffalo,  October  25,  1881. 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CONVENTION: 

I  am  informed  that  you  have  bestowed  upon  me  the  nomi 
nation  for  the  office  of  Mayor.  It  certainly  is  a  great  honor 
to  be  thought  fit  to  be  the  chief  officer  of  a  great  and  prosper 
ous  city  like  ours,  having  such  important  and  varied  interests. 
I  hoped  that  your  choice  might  fall  upon  some  other  and  more 
worthy  member  of  the  city  Democracy,  for  personal  and  private 
considerations  have  made  the  question  of  acceptance  on  my 
part  a  difficult  one.  But  because  I  am  a  Democrat,  and 
because  I  think  no  one  has  a  right,  at  this  time  of  all  others, 
to  consult  his  own  inclinations  as  against  the  call  of  his  party 
and  fellow-citizens,  and  hoping  that  I  may  be  of  use  to  you  in 
your  efforts  to  inaugurate  a  better  rule  in  municipal  affairs,  I 
accept  the  nomination  tendered  me. 

I  believe  that  much  can  be  done  to  relieve  our  citizens  from 
their  present  load  of  taxation,  and  that  a  more  rigid  scrutiny 
of  all  public  expenditures  will  result  in  a  great  saving  to  the 


2  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

community.  I  also  believe  that  some  extravagance  in  our  city 
government  may  be  corrected  without  injury  to  the  public 
service. 

There  is,  or  there  should  be,  no  reason  why  the  affairs  of  our 
city  should  not  be  managed  with  the  same  care  and  the  same 
economy  as  private  interests.  And  when  we  consider  that 
public  officials  are  the  trustees  of  the  people,  and  hold  their 
places  and  exercise  their  powers  for  the  benefit  of  the  people, 
there  should  be  no  higher  inducement  to  a  faithful  and  honest 
discharge  of  public  duty. 

These  are  very  old  truths;  but  I  cannot  forbear  to  speak  in 
this  strain  to-day,  because  I  believe  the  time  has  come  when 
the  people  loudly  demand  that  these  principles  shall  be,  sin 
cerely  and  without  mental  reservation,  adopted  as  a  rule  of 
conduct.  And  I  am  assured  that  the  result  of  the  campaign 
upon  which  we  enter  to-day  will  demonstrate  that  the  citizens 
of  Buffalo  will  not  tolerate  the  man  or  the  party  that  has  been 
unfaithful  to  public  trusts. 

I  say  these  things  to  a  convention  of  Democrats,  because  I 
know  that  the  grand  old  party  is  honest,  and  they  cannot  be 
unwelcome  to  you. 

Let  us,  then,  in  all  sincerity,  promise  the  people  an 
improvement  in  our  municipal  affairs;  and  if  the  opportunity 
is  offered  us,  as  it  surely  will  be,  let  us  faithfully  keep  that 
promise.  By  this  means,  and  by  this  means  alone,  can  our 
success  rest  upon  a  firm  foundation  and  our  party  ascendency 
be  permanently  assured.  Our  opponents  will  wage  a  bitter 
and  determined  warfare,  but  with  united  and  hearty  effort  we 
shall  achieve  a  victory  for  our  entire  ticket. 

And  at  this  day,  and  with  my  record  before  you,  I  trust  it 
is  unnecessary  for  me  to  pledge  to  you  my  most  earnest 
endeavors  to  bring  about  this  result;  and,  if  elected  to  the 
position  for  which  you  have  nominated  me,  I  shall  do  my 
whole  duty  to  the  party,  but  none  the  less,  I  hope,  to  the  citi 
zens  of  Buffalo. 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  3 

II. 

Letter  Accepting  Nomination  for  Governor. 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y.,  October  7,  1882. 

DEAR  SIR:  I  beg  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  your  letter 
informing  me  of  my  nomination  for  Governor  by  the  Demo 
cratic  State  Convention,  lately  held  at  the  city  of  Syracuse. 

I  accept  the  nomination  thus  tendered  to  me,  and  trust  that, 
while  I  am  gratefully  sensible  of  the  honor  conferred,  I  am 
also  properly  impressed  with  the  responsibilities  which  it  invites. 
The  platform  of  principles  adopted  by  the  convention  meets 
with  my  hearty  approval.  The  doctrines  therein  enunciated 
are  so  distinctly  and  explicitly  stated  that  their  amplification 
seems  scarcely  necessary.  If  elected  to  the  office  for  which  I 
have  been  nominated,  I  shall  endeavor  to  impress  them  upon 
my  administration  and  make  them  the  policy  of  the  State. 

Our  citizens  for  the  most  part  attach  themselves  to  one  or 
the  other  of  the  great  political  parties;  and,  under  ordinary 
circumstances,  they  support  the  nominees  of  the  party  to  which 
they  profess  fealty. 

It  is  quite  apparent  that  under  such  circumstances  the  pri 
mary  election  or  caucus  should  be  surrounded  by  such  safe 
guards  as  will  secure  absolutely  free  and  uncontrolled  action. 
Here  the  people  themselves  are  supposed  to  speak;  here  they 
put  their  hands  to  the  machinery  of  government,  and  in  this 
place  should  be  found  the  manifestations  of  the  popular  will. 

When  by  fraud,  intimidation,  or  any  other  questionable 
practice  the  voice  of  the  people  is  here  smothered,  a  direct 
blow  is  aimed  at  a  most  precious  right,  and  one  which  the  law 
should  be  swift  to  protect. 

If  the  primary  election  is  uncontaminated  and  fairly  con 
ducted,  those  there  chosen  to  represent  the  people  will  go  forth 
with  the  impress  of  the  people's  will  upon  them,  and  the 
benefits  and  purposes  of  a  truly  representative  government  will 
be  attained. 

Public  officers  are  the  servants  and  agents  of  the  people  to 


SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 


execute   laws  which   the    people    have   made,  and    within  the 
limits  of  a  constitution  which  they  have  established. 

Hence  the  interference  of  officials  of  any  degree,  and 
whether  State  or  Federal,  for  the  purpose  of  thwarting  or  con 
trolling  the  popular  wish,  should  not  be  tolerated. 

Subordinates  in  public  place  should  be  selected  and  retained 
for  their  efficiency,  and  not  because  they  may  be  used  to 
accomplish  partisan  ends.  The  people  have  a  right  to 
demand,  here,  as  in  cases  of  private  employment,  that  their 
money  be  paid  to  those  who  will  render  the  best  service  in 
return,  and  that  the  appointment  to,  and  tenure  of,  such  places 
should  depend  upon  ability  and  merit.  If  the  clerks  and 
assistants  in  public  departments  were  paid  the  same  compen 
sation  and  required  to  do  the  same  amount  of  work  as  those 
employed  in  prudently  conducted  private  establishments,  the 
anxiety  to  hold  these  public  places  would  be  much  diminished, 
and,  it  seems  to  me,  the  cause  of  civil  service  reform  materi 
ally  aided. 

The  system  of  levying  assessments,  for  partisan  purposes,  on 
those  holding  office  or  place,  cannot  be  too  strongly  con 
demned.  Through  the  thin  disguise  of  voluntary  contribu 
tions,  this  is  seen  to  be  naked  extortion,  reducing  the  compen 
sation  which  should  be  honestly  earned  and  swelling  a  fund 
used  to  debauch  the  people  and  defeat  the  popular  will. 

I  am  unalterably  opposed  to  the  interference  by  the  Legis 
lature  with  the  government  of  municipalities.  I  believe  in  the 
intelligence  of  the  people  when  left  to  an  honest  freedom  in 
their  choice,  and  that  when  the  citizens  of  any  section  of  the 
State  have  determined  upon  the  details  of  a  local  government, 
they  should  be  left  in  the  undisturbed  enjoyment  of  the  same! 
The  doctrine  of  home  rule,  as  I  understand  it,  lies  at  the 
foundation  of  republican  institutions,  and  cannot  be  too 
strongly  insisted  upon. 

Corporations  are  created  by  the  law  for  certain  defined  pur 
poses,  and  are  restricted  in  their  operations  by  specific  limita 
tions.  Acting  within  their  legitimate  sphere  they  should  be 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  5 

protected ;  but  when  by  combination,  or  by  the  exercise  of 
unwarranted  power,  they  oppress  the  people,  the  same  author 
ity  which  created  should  restrain  them  and0  protect  the  rights 
of  the  citizen.  The  law  lately  passed  for  the  purpose  of 
adjusting  the  relations  between  the  people  and  corporations 
should  be  executed  in  good  faith,  with  an  honest  design  to 
effectuate  its  objects  and  with  a  due  regard  for  the  interests 
involved. 

The  laboring  classes  constitute  the  main  part  of  our  popula 
tion.  They  should  be  protected  in  their  efforts  peaceably  to 
assert  their  rights  when  endangered  by  aggregated  capital,  and 
all  statutes  on  this  subject  should  recognize  the  care  of  the 
State  for  honest  toil,  and  be  framed  with  a  view  of  improving 
the  condition  of  the  workingman. 

We  have  so  lately  had  a  demonstration  of  the  value  of  our 
citizen  soldiery  in  time  of  peril,  that  it  seems  to  me  no  argu 
ment  is  necessary  to  prove  that  it  should  be  maintained  in  a 
state  of  efficiency,  so  that  its  usefulness  shall  not  be  impaired. 

Certain  amendments  to  the  constitution  of  our  State,  involv 
ing  the  management  of  our  canals,  are  to  be  passed  upon  at 
the  coming  election.  This  subject  affects  divers  interests,  and, 
of  course,  gives  rise  to  opposite  opinions.  It  is  in  the  hands  of 
the  sovereign  people  for  final  settlement;  and  as  the  question 
is  thus  removed  from  State  legislation,  any  statement  of  my 
opinion  in  regard  to  it,  at  this  time,  would,  I  think,  be  out  of 
place.  I  am  confident  that  the  people  will  intelligently  exam 
ine  the  merits  of  the  subject,  and  determine  where  the  pre 
ponderance  of  interest  lies. 

The  expenditure  of  money  to  influence  the  action  of  the 
people  at  the  polls,  or  to  secure  legislation,  is  calculated  to 
excite  the  gravest  concern.  When  this  pernicious  agency  is 
successfully  employed,  a  representative  form  of  government 
becomes  a  sham,  and  laws  passed  under  its  baleful  influence 
cease  to  protect,  but  are  made  the  means  by  which  the  rights 
of  the  people  are  sacrificed  and  the  public  treasury  despoiled. 
It  is  useless  and  foolish  to  shut  our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  this 


SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

evil  exists  among  us,  and  the  party  which  leads  in  an  honest 
effort  to  return  to  better  and  purer  methods  will  receive  the 
confidence  of  our  citizens  and  secure  their  support.  It  is 
willful  blindness  not  to  see  that  the  people  care  but  little  for 
party  obligations  when  they  are  invoked,  to  countenance  and 
sustain  fraudulent  and  corrupt  practices.  And  it  is  well,  for 
our  country  and  for  the  purification  of  politics,  that  the  people 
at  times  fully  roused  to  danger,  remind  their  leaders  that  party 
methods  should  be  something  more  than  a  means  used  to 
answer  the  purposes  of  those  who  profit  by  political  occupation. 

The  importance  of  wise  statesmanship  in  the  management  of 
public  affairs  cannot,  I  think,  be  overestimated.  I  am  con- 
vmced,  however,  that  the  perplexities  and  the  mystery  often 
surrounding  the  administration  of  State  concerns  grow  in  a 
great  measure,  out  of  an  attempt  to  serve  partisan  ends  rather 
than  the  welfare  of  the  citizen. 

We  may,  I  think,  reduce  to  quite  simple  elements  the  duty 
which  public  servants  owe,  by  constantly  bearing  in  mind  that 
they  are  put  in  place  to  protect  the  rights  of  the  people  to 
answer  their  needs  as  they  arise,  and  to  expend,  for  their 
benefit,  the  money  drawn  from  them  by  taxation. 

I  am  profoundly  conscious  that  the  management  of  the 
divers  interests  of  a  great  State  is  not  an  easy  matter,  but  I 
believe,  if  undertaken  in  the  proper  spirit,  all  its  real  difficul 
ties  will  yield  to  watchfulness  and  care. 

Yours  respectfully, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

III. 

Serenade  Speech  in  Albany,  July  10,   1884. 
FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

I  cannot  but  be  gratified  with  this  kindly  greeting.  I  find 
that  I  am  fast  reaching  the  point  where  I  shall  count  the 
people  of  Albany  not  merely  as  fellow-citizens,  but  as  towns 
men  and  neighbors. 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  7 

On  this  occasion,  I  am,  of  course,  aware  that  you  pay  no 
compliment  to  a  citizen,  and  present  no  personal  tribute,  but 
that  you  have  come  to  demonstrate  your  loyalty  and  devotion 
to  a  cause  in  which  you  are  heartily  enlisted. 

The  American  people  are  about  to  exercise,  in  its  highest 
sense,  their  power  of  right  and  sovereignty.  They  are  to  call 
in  review  before  them  their  public  servants  and  the  representa 
tives  of  political  parties,  and  demand  of  them  an  account  of 
their  stewardship. 

Parties  may  be  so  long  in  power,  and  may  become  so  arro 
gant  and  careless  of  the  interests  of  the  people,  as  to  grow 
heedless  of  their  responsibility  to  their  masters.  But  the  time 
comes,  as  certainly  as  death,  when  the  people  weigh  them  in 
the  balance. 

The  issues  to  be  adjudicated  by  the  nation's  great  assize  are 
made  up  and  are  about  to  be  submitted. 

We  believe  that  the  people  are  not  receiving  at  the  hands  of 
the  party  which,  for  nearly  twenty-four  years,  has  directed  the 
affairs  of  the  nation,  the  full  benefits  to  which  they  are  entitled 
— of  a  pure,  just,  and  economical  rule — and  we  believe  that  the 
ascendency  of  genuine  Democratic  principles  will  insure  a 
better  government,  and  greater  happiness  and  prosperity  to  all 
the  people. 

To  reach  the  sober  thought  of  the  nation,  and  to  dislodge 
an  enemy  intrenched  behind  spoils  and  patronage,  involve  a 
struggle,  which,  if  we  under-estimate,  we  invite  defeat.  I  am 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  responsibility  of  the  part 
assigned  to  me  in  this  contest.  My  heart,  I  know,  is  in  the 
cause,  and  I  pledge  you  that  no  effort  of  mine  shall  be  wanting 
to  secure  the  victory  which  I  believe  to  be  within  the  achieve 
ment  of  the  Democratic  hosts. 

Let  us,  then,  enter  upon  the  campaign,  now  fairly  opened, 
each  one  appreciating  well  the  part  he  has  to  perform,  ready, 
with  solid  front,  to  do  battle  for  better  government,  confi 
dently,  courageously,  always  honorably,  and  with  a  firm  reliance 
upon  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  the  American  people. 


SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

IV. 
Response  to  Official  Notification  at  Albany,  July  29,  1884. 

MR.   CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE: 

Your  formal  announcement  does  not,  of  course,  convey  to 
me  the  first  information  of  the  result  of  the  convention,  lately 
held  by  the  Democracy  of  the  nation.  And  yet  when,  as  I 
listen  to  your  message,  I  see  about  me  representatives  fro'm  all 
parts  of  the  land,  of  the  great  party  which,  claiming  to  be  the 
party  of  the  people,  asks  them  to  intrust  to  it  the  administra 
tion  of  their  government,  and  when  I  consider,  under  the 
influence  of  the  stern  reality  which  present  surroundings 
create,  that  I  have  been  chosen  to  represent  the  plans,  pur 
poses,  and  the  policy  of  the  Democratic  party,  I  am  pro 
foundly  impressed  by  the  solemnity  of  the  occasion  and  by  the 
responsibility  of  my  position. 

Though  I  gratefully  appreciate  it,  I  do  not  at  this  moment 
congratulate  myself  upon  the  distinguished  honor  which  has 
been  conferred  upon  me,  because  my  mind  is  full  of  an  anx 
ious  desire  to  perform  well  the  part  which  has  been  assigned 
to  me.  Nor  do  I  at  this  moment  forget  that  the  rights  and 
interests  of  more  than  fifty  millions  of  my  fellow-citizens  are 
involved  in  our  efforts  to  gain  Democratic  supremacy.  This 
reflection  presents  to  my  mind  the  consideration  which,  more 
than  all  others,  gives  to  the  action  of  my  party,  in  convention 
assembled,  its  most  sober  and  serious  aspect. 

The  party  and  its  representatives  which  ask  to  be  intrusted, 
at  the  hands  of  the  people,  with  the  keeping  of  all  that  con 
cerns  their  welfare  and  their  safety,  should  only  ask  it  with 
the  full  appreciation  of  the  trust,  and  with  a  firm  resolve  to 
administer  it  faithfully  and  well.  I  am  a  Democrat— because  I 
believe  that  this  truth  lies  at  the  foundation  of  true  Democ 
racy.  I  have  kept  the  faith— because  I  believe,  if  rightly  and 
fairly  administered  and  applied,  Democratic  doctrines  and 
measures  will  insure  the  happiness,  contentment,  and  pros 
perity  of  the  people. 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  9 

If,  in  the  contest  upon  which  we  now  enter,  we  steadfastly 
hold  to  the  underlying  principles  of  our  party  creed,  and  at  all 
times  keep  in  view  the  people's  good,  we  shall  be  strong, 
because  we  are  true  to  ourselves,  and  because  the  plain  and 
independent  voters  of  the  land  will  seek,  by  their  suffrages,  to 
compass  their  release  from  party  tyranny  where  there  should 
be  submission  to  the  popular  will,  and  their  protection  from 
party  corruption  where  there  should  be  devotion  to  the  peo 
ple's  interests. 

These  thoughts  lend  a  consecration  to  our  cause;  and  we  go 
forth,  not  merely  to  gain  a  partisan  advantage,  but  pledged  to 
give  to  those  who  trust  us  the  utmost  benefit  of  a  pure  and 
honest  administration  of  national  affairs.  No  higher  purpose 
or  motive  can  stimulate  us  to  supreme  effort,  or  urge  us  to 
continuous  and  earnest  labor  and  effective  party  organization. 
Let  us  not  fail  in  this,  and  we  may  confidently  hope  to  reap 
the  full  reward  of  patriotic  services  well  performed. 

I  have  thus  called  to  mind  some  simple  truths;  and,  trite 
though  they  are,  it  seems  to  me  we  do  well  to  dwell  upon 
them  at  this  time. 

I  shall  soon,  I  hope,  signify  in  the  usual  manner  my  accept 
ance  of  the  nomination  which  has  been  tendered  to  me.  In  the 
meantime,  I  gladly  greet  you  all  as  co-workers  in  a  noble  cause. 


V. 

Letter  Accepting  Nomination  for  President. 

ALBANY,  N.  Y.,  August  18,  1884. 
GENTLEMEN: 

I  have  received  your  communication,  dated  July  28,  1884, 
informing  me  of  my  nomination  to  the  office  of  President 
of  the  United  States  by  the  National  Democratic  Conven 
tion,  lately  assembled  at  Chicago.  I  accept  the  nomin 
ation  with  a  grateful  appreciation  of  the  supreme  honor  con 
ferred  and  a  solemn  sense  of  the  responsibility  which,  in  its 


10 


SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 


acceptance,  I  assume.  I  have  carefully  considered  the  plat 
form  adopted  by  the  convention  and  cordially  approve  the 
same.  So  plain  a  statement  of  Democratic  faith,  and  the 
principles  upon  which  that  party  appeals  to  the  suffrages  of  the 
people,  needs  no  supplement  or  explanation. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  office  of  President  is 
essentially  executive  in  its  nature?)  The  laws  enacted  by  the 
legislative  branch  of  the  government,  the  Chief  Executive  is 
bound  faithfully  to  enforce.  And  when  the  wisdom  of  the 
political  party,  which  selects  one  of  its  members  as  a  nominee 
for  that  office,  has  outlined  its  policy  and  declared  its  princi 
ples,  it  seems  to  me  that  nothing  in  the  character  of  the  office 
or  the  necessities  of  the  case  requires  more,  from  the  candidate 
accepting  such  nomination,  than  the  suggestion  of  certain  well- 
known  truths,  so  absolutely  vital  to  the  safety  and  welfare  of 
the  nation  that  they  cannot  be  too  often  recalled  or  too  seri 
ously  enforced. 

We  proudly  call  ours  a  government  by  the  people.  It  is  not 
such  when  a  class  is  tolerated  which  arrogates  to  itself  the 
management  of  public  affairs  seeking  to  control  the  people 
instead  of  representing  them,  f  Parties  are  the  necessary  out 
growths  of  our  institutions;  felt  a  government  is  not  by  the 
people  when  one  party  fastens  its  control  upon  the  country  and 
perpetuates  its  power  by  cajoling  and  betraying  the  people 
instead  of  serving  them>>  A  government  is  not  by  the  people 
when  a  result  which  should  represent  the  intelligent  will  of  free 
and  thinking  men  is  or  can  be  determined  by  the  shameless 
corruption  of  their  suffrages. 

When  an  election  to  office  shall  be  the  selection  by  the  voters 
of  one  of  their  number  to  assume  for  a  time  a  public  trust 
instead  of  his  dedication  to  the  profession  of  politics-  when 
the  holders  of  the  ballot,  quickened  by  a  sense  of  duty  shall 
avenge  truth  betrayed  and  pledges  broken,  and  when  the  suf 
frage  shall  be  altogether  free  and  uncorrupted,  the  full  realiza 
tion  of  a  government  by  the  people  will  be  at  hand.  And  of 
the  means  to  this  end  not  one  would,  in  my  judgment,  be  more 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  II 

effective  than  an  amendment  to  the  Constitution  disqualifying 
the  President  from  re-election.  When  we  consider  the  patron 
age  of  this  great  office,  the  allurements  of  power,  the  tempta 
tions  to  retain  public  place  once  gained,  and,  more  than  all, 
the  availability  a  party  finds  in  an  incumbent  whom  a  horde 
of  office-holders,  with  a  zeal  born  of  benefits  received  and  fos 
tered  -by  the  hope  of  favors  yet  to-come,  stand  ready  to  aid 
with  money  and  trained  political  service,  we  recognize  in  the 
eligibility  of  the  President  for  re-election  a  most  serious  danger 
to  that  calm,  deliberate,  and  intelligent  political  action  which 
must  characterize  a  government  by  the  people. 

A  true  American  sentiment  recognizes  the  dignity  of 
and  the  fact  that  honor  lies  in  honest  toil.  Contented  labor 
is  an  element  of  national  prosperity.  Ability  to  work  consti 
tutes  the  capital  and  the  wage  of  labor  the  income  of  a  vast 
number  of  our  population,  and  this  interest  should  be  jealously 
protected.  Our  workingmen  are  not  asking  unreasonable 
indulgence,  but,  as  intelligent  and  manly  citizens,  they  seek  the 
same  consideration  which  those  demand  who  have  other  inter 
ests  at  stake.  They  should  receive  their  full  share  of  the  care 
and  attention  of  those  who  make  and  execute  the  laws,  to  the 
end  that  the  wants  and  needs  of  the  employers  and  employed 
shall  alike  be  subserved  and  the  prosperity  of  the  country,  the 
common  heritage  of  both,  be  advanced.  As  related  to  this 
subject,  while  we  should  not  discourage  the  immigration  of  ^ 
those  who  come  to  acknowledge  allegiance  to  our  government 
and  add  to  our  citizen  population,  yet,  as  a  means  of  protection 
to  our  workingmen,  a  different  rule  should  prevail  concerning 
those  who,  if  they  come  or  are  brought  to  our  land,  do  not 
intend  to  become  Americans,  but  will  injuriously  compete  with 
those  justly  entitled  to  our  field  of  labor. 

In  a  letter  accepting  the  nomination  to  the  office  of  Gov 
ernor,  nearly  two  years  ago,  I  made  the  following  statement, 
to  which  I  have  steadily  adhered: 

The  laboring  classes  constitute  the  main  part  of  our  population.     They  * 
should   be  protected   in  their  efforts  peaceably  to  assert  their  rights  when 


12  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

endangered  by  aggregated  capital,  and  all  statutes  on  this  subject  should 
recognize  the  care  of  the  State  for  honest  toil,  and  be  framed  with  a  view 
of  improving  the  condition  of  the  workingman. 

A  proper  regard  for  the  welfare  of  the  workingmen  being 
inseparably  connected  with  the  integrity  of  our  institutions 
none  of  our  citizens  are  more  interested  than  they  in  guarding 
against  any  corrupting  influences  which  seek  to  pervert  the 
beneficent  purposes  of  our  government,  and  none  should  be 
more  watchful  of  the  artful  machinations  of  those  who  allure 
them  to  self-inflicted  injury. 

In  a  free  country  the  curtailment  of  the  absolute  rights  of 
the  individual  should  only  be  such  as  is  essential  to  the°peace 
and  good  order  of  the  community.  The  limit  between  the 
proper  subjects  of  governmental  control  and  those  which  can  be 
more  fittingly  left  to  the  moral  sense  and  self-imposed  restraint 
of  the  citizen  should  be  carefully  kept  in  view  Thus  laws 
unnecessarily  interfering  with  the  habits  and  customs  of  our 
people  which  are  not  offensive  to  the  moral  sentiments  of  the 
civilized  world,  and  which  are  consistent  with  good  citizenship 
and  the  public  welfare,  are  unwise  and  vexatious. 

The  commerce  of  a  nation,  to  a  great  extent,  determines  its 
supremacy.  Cheap  and  easy  transportation  should  therefore 
be  liberally  fostered.  Within  the  limits  of  the  Constitution 
the  general  government  should  so  improve  and  protect  its 
natural  water-ways  as  will  enable  the  producers  of  the  country 
to  reach  a  profitable  market. 

The  people  pay  the  wages  of  the  public  employees   and  they 
are  entitled  to  the  fair  and  honest  work  which  the  money  thus 
paid  should  command.     It  is  the  duty  of  those  intrusted  with 
the  management  of  their  affairs  to  see  that  such  public  service 
is  forthcoming.     The  selection  and  retention  of  subordinates 
m  government  employment  should  depend  upon  their  ascer 
tained  fitness  and  the  value  of  their  work,  and  they  should  be 
neither  expected  nor  allowed  to  do  questionable  party  service 
The  interests  of  the  people  will  be  better  protected-  the  esti 
mate  of  public  labor  and  duty  will   be  immensely  improved ; 


ACCEPJ^ING  DOMINATION'S.  13 

public  employment  will  be  open  to  all  who  can  demonstrate 
their  fitness  to  enter  it;  the  unseemly  scramble  for  place  under 
government,  with  the  consequent  importunity  which  embitters 
official  life,  will  cease,  and  the  public  departments  will  not  be 
filled  with  those  who  conceive  it  to  be  their  first  duty  to  aid 
the  party  to  which  they  owe  their  places,  instead  of  rendering 
patient  and  honest  return  to  the  people. 

I  believe  that  the  public  temper  is  such  that  the  voters  of 
the  land  are  prepared  to  support  the  party  which  gives  the  best 
promise  of  administering  the  government  in  the  honest,  simple, 
and  plain  manner  which  is  consistent  with  its  character  and 
purposes.  They  have  learned  that  mystery  and  concealment 
in  the  management  of  their  affairs  cover  tricks  and  betrayal. 
The  statesmanship  they  require  consists  in  honesty  and  frugal 
ity,  a  prompt  response  to  the  needs  of  the  people  as  they  arise, 
and  a  vigilant  protection  of  all  their  varied  interests.  If  I 
should  be  called  to  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  nation  by  the 
suffrages  of  rny  fellow-citizens,  I  will  assume  the  duties  of  that 
high  office  with  a  solemn  determination  to  dedicate  every  effort 
to  the  country's  good,  and  with  an  humble  reliance  upon  the 
favor  and  support  of  the  Supreme  Being,  who,  I  believe,  will 
always  bless  honest  human  endeavor  in  the  conscientious  dis 
charge  of  public  duty. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


VI. 


Speech  to  the  Committee  on  Notification,  June  26,  1888.   * 

MR.   COLLINS  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE: 

I  cannot  but  be  profoundly  impressed  when  I  see  about  me 
the  messengers  of  the  national  Democracy,  bearing  its  sum 
mons  to  duty.  The  political  party  to  which  I  owe  allegiance 
both  honors  and  commands  me.  It  places  in  my  hand  the 
proud  standard  and  bids  me  bear  it  high  at  the  front  in  a  battle 
which  it  wages  bravely,  because  conscious  of  right;  confidently, 


14  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

because  its  trust  is  in  the  people,  and  soberly,  because  it  com- 
prebends  the  obligations  which  success  imposes. 

The  message  which  you  bring  awakens  within  me  the  liveli 
est  sense  of  personal  gratitude  and  satisfaction,  and  the  honor 
which  you  tender  me  is,  in  itself,  so  great  that  there  might  well 
be  no  room  for  any  other  sentiment.  And  yet  I  cannot  rid 
myself  of  grave  and  serious  thoughts  when  I  remember  that 
party  supremacy  is  not  alone  involved  in  the  conflict  which 
presses  upon  us,  but  that  we  struggle  to  secure  and  save  the 
cherished  institutions,  the  welfare,  and  happiness  of  a  nation 
of  freemen. 

'  Familiarity  with  the  great  office  which  I  hold  has  but  added 
to  my  apprehension  of  its  sacred  character  and  the  consecra 
tion  demanded  of  him  who  assumes  its  immense  responsibili- 
es.  It  is  the  repository  of  the  people's  will  and  power 
Within  its  vision  should  be  the  protection  and  welfare  of  the 
humblest  citizen,  and  with  quick  ear  it  should  catch  from  the 
remotest  corner  of  the  land  the  plea  of  the  people  for  justice 
and  for  right.  For  the  sake  of  the  people  he  who  holds  this 
office  of  theirs  should  resist  every  encroachment  upon  its  le<nti- 
mate  functions,  and,  for  the  sake  of  the  integrity  and  usefulness 
of  the  office,  it  should  be  kept  near  to  the  people  and  be 
administered  in  full  sympathy  with  their  wants  and  needs. 

This  occasion  reminds  me  most  vividly  of  the  scene  when 
four  years  ago,  I  received  a  message  from  my  party  similar  to 
that  which  you   now  deliver.      With  all  that  has  passed  since 
that  day,  I  can  truly  say  that  the  feeling  of  awe  with  which  I 
heard  the  summons  then  is  intensified  many  fold  when  it  is 
repeated  now.     Four  years  ago  I  knew  that  our  chief  execu 
tive  office,  if  not  carefully  guarded,  might  drift,  little  by  little 
away  from   the  people,  to  whom   it  belonged,  and  become  a 
perversion  of  all  that  it  ought  to  be;  but  I  did  not  know  how 
much  its  moorings  had  already  been  loosened. 

I  knew  four  years  ago  how  well  devised  were  the  principles 
of  true  Democracy  for  the  successful  operation  of  a  govern 
ment  by  the  people  and  for  the  people;  but  I  did  not  know 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  15 

how  absolutely  necessary  their  application  then  was  for  the 
restoration  to  the  people  of  their  safety  and  prosperity.  I 
knew  then  that  abuses  and  extravagances  had  crept  into  the 
management  of  public  affairs;  but  I  did  not  know  their  numer 
ous  forms,  nor  the  tenacity  of  their  grasp.  I  knew  then  some 
thing  of  the  bitterness  of  partisan  obstruction ;  but  I  did  not 
know  how  bitter,  how  reckless,  and  how  shameless  it  could  be. 
I  knew,  too,  that  the  American  people  were  patriotic  and  just; 
but  I  did  not  know  how  grandly  they  loved  their  country,  nor 
how  noble  and  generous  they  were. 

I  shall  not  dwell  upon  the  acts  and  the  policy  of  the  Admin 
istration  now  drawing  to  its  close.  Its  record  is  open  to  every 
citizen  of  the  land.  And  yet/I  will  not  be  denied  the  privilege 
of  asserting,  at  this  time,  that  in  the  exercise  of  the  functions  of 
the  high  trust  confided  to  me  I  have  yielded  obedience  only  to 
the  Constitution  and  the  solemn  obligation  of  my  oath  of  office. 
I  have  done  those  things  which,  in  the  light  of  the  understand 
ing  God  has  given  me,  seemed  most  conducive  to  the  welfare 
of  my  countrymen  and  the  promotion  of  good  government/)  I 
would  not,  if  I  could,  for  myself  nor  for  you,  avoid  a  single 
consequence  of  a  fair  interpretation  of  my  course. 

It  but  remains  for  me  to  say  to  you,  and  through  you  to  the 
Democracy  of  the  Nation,  that  I  accept  the  nomination  with 
which  they  have  honored  me,  and  that  I  will,  in  due  time,  sig 
nify  such  acceptance  in  the  usual  formal  manner. 


VII. 

Letter  Accepting  denomination. 

WASHINGTON,  September  8,  1888. 
HON.  PATRICK  A.  COLLINS  AND  OTHERS,  Committee,  etc.: 

GENTLEMEN:  In  addressing  to  you  my  formal  acceptance  of 
the  nomination  to  the  Presidency  of  the  United  States,  my 
thoughts  persistently  dwell  upon  the  impressive  relation  of  such 
action  to  the  American  people,  whose  confidence  is  thus 


16  SPEECHES  AND   LETTERS 

invited,  and  to  the  political  party  to  which  I  belong,  just  enter 
ing  upon  a  contest  for  continued  supremacy. 

The  world  does  not  afford  a  spectacle  more  sublime  than  is 
furnished  when  millions  of  free  and  intelligent  American  citi 
zens  select  their  Chief  Magistrate,  and  bid  one  of  their  number 
to  find  the  highest  earthly  honor  and  the  full  measure  of  public 
duty  in  ready  submission  to  their  will. 

It  follows  that  a  candidate  for  this  high  office  can  never  for 
get  that,  when  the  turmoil  and  the  strife  which  attend  the 
selection  of  its  incumbent  shall  be  heard  no  more,  there  must 
be,  in  the  quiet  calm  which  follows,  a  complete  and  solemn 
self-consecration  by  the  people's  chosen  President  of  every 
faculty  and  endeavor  to  the  service  of  a  confiding  and  generous 
nation  of  freemen. 

These  thoughts  are  intensified  by  the  light  of  my  experience 
in  the  Presidential  office,  which  has  soberly  impressed  me  with 
the  severe  responsibilities  it  imposes,  while  it  has  quickened 
my  love  for  American  institutions  and  taught  me  the  priceless 
value  of  the  trust  of  my  countrymen. 

It  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  those  who  administer  our 
government  should  jealously  protect  and  maintain  the  rights  of 
American  citizens  at  home  and  abroad,  and  should  strive  to 
achieve  for  our  country  her  proper  place  among  the  nations  of 
the  earth;  but  there  is  no  people  whose  home  interests  are  so 
great,  and  whose  numerous  objects  of  domestic  concern  deserve 
so  much  watchfulness  and  care. 

Among  these  are  the  regulation  of  a  sound  financial  system 
suited  to  our  needs,  thus  securing  an  efficient  agency  of 
national  wealth  and  general  prosperity;  the  construction' and 
equipment  of  means  of  defense,  to  insure  our  national  safety 
and  maintain  the  honor  beneath  which  such  national  safety 
reposes  ;  the  protection  of  our  national  domain,  still  stretching 
beyond  the  needs  of  a  century's  expansion,  and  its  preserva 
tion  for  the  settler  and  the  pioneer  of  our  marvelous  growth;  a 
sensible  and  sincere  recognition  of  the  value  of  American  v 
labor,  leading  to  the  scrupulous  care  and  just  appreciation  of 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  17 

the  interests  of  our  workingmen ;  the  limitation  and  checking 
of  such  monopolistic  tendencies  and  schemes  as  interfere  with 
the  advantages  and  benefits  which  the  people  may  rightly 
claim;  a  generous  regard  and  care  for  our  surviving  soldiers 
and  sailors  and  for  the  widows  and  orphans  of  such  as  have 
died,  to  the  end  that,  while  the  appreciation  of  their  services 
and  sacrifices  is  quickened,  the  application  of  their  pension  fund 
to  improper  cases  may  be  prevented;  protection  against  a 
servile  immigration,  which  injuriously  competes  with  our  labor 
ing  men  in  the  field  of  toil,  and  adds  to  our  population  an  ele 
ment  ignorant  of  our  institutions  and  laws,  impossible  of 
assimilation  with  our  people,  and  dangerous  to  our  peace  and 
welfare;  a  strict  and  steadfast  adherence  to  the  principles  of 
Civil  Service  Reform  and  a  thorough  execution  of  the  laws 
passed  for  their  enforcement,  thus  permitting  to  our  people  the 
advantages  of  business  methods  in  the  operation  of  their  gov 
ernment;  the  guaranty  to  our  colored  citizens  of  all  their 
rights  of  citizenship,  and  their  just  recognition  and  encourage 
ment  in  all  things  pertaining  to  that  relation;  a  firm,  patient, 
and  humane  Indian  policy,  so  that  in  peaceful  relations  with 
the  government  the  civilization  of  the  Indian  may  be  pro 
moted,  with  resulting  quiet  and  safety  to  the  settlers  on  our 
frontiers;  and  the  curtailment  of  public  expense  by  the  intro 
duction  of  economical  methods  in  every  department  of  the 
government. 

The  pledges  contained  in  the  platform  adopted  by  the  late 
convention  of  the  National  Democracy  lead  to  the  advance 
ment  of  these  objects  and  insure  good  government — the  aspira 
tion  of  every  true  American  citizen,  and  the  motive  for  every 
patriotic  action  and  effort.  In  the  consciousness  that  much 
has  been  done  in  the  direction  of  good  government  by  the 
present  administration,  and  submitting  its  record  to  the  fair 
inspection  of  my  countrymen,  I  indorse  the  platform  thus  pre 
sented,  with  the  determination  that,  if  I  am  again  called  to  the 
Chief  Magistracy,  there  shall  be  a  continuance  of  devoted 
endeavor  to  advance  the  interests  of  the  entire  country. 


18  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

Our  scale  of  Federal  taxation  and  its  consequences   largely 
engross,  at  this  time,  the  attention  of  our  citizens,  and  the  peo 
ple  are  soberly  considering  the  necessity  of  measures  of  relief. 
Our  government  is  the  creation  of  the  people,  established  to 
carry  out  their  designs  and  accomplish   their  good.      It  was 
founded  on  justice,  and  was  made   for  a  free,  intelligent,  and 
virtuous  people.     It  is  only  useful  when  within  their  control, 
and  only  serves  them  well  when  regulated  and  guided  by  their 
constant  touch.     It  is  a  free  government,  because  it  guarantees 
to  every  American  citizen   the  unrestricted  personal  use  and 
enjoyment  of  all  the  reward  of  his  toil  and  of  all  his  income 
except  what  may  be  his  fair  contribution   to  necessary  public 
expense.     Therefore,  it  is  not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty,  of 
a  free  people,  in  the  enforcement  of  this  guaranty,  to  insist 
that  such  expense  should  be  strictly  limited  to  the  actual  pub- 
he  needs.     It  seems  perfectly  clear  that  when  the  government, 
this  instrumentality  created  and  maintained  by  the  people  to- 
do  their  bidding,  turns  upon  them,  and,  through  an  utter  per 
version  of  its  powers,  extorts  from  their  labor  and  capital  trib 
ute  largely  in  excess  of  public  necessities,    the  creature  has 
rebelled   against   the   creator   and   the  masters  are   robbed  by 
their  servants. 

The  cost  of  the  government  must  continue  to  be  met  by 
tariff  duties  collected  at  our  custom  houses  upon  imported 
goods,  and  by  internal  revenue  taxes  assessed  upon  spirituous 
and  malt  liquors,  tobacco,  and  oleomargarine. 

I  suppose  it  is  needless  to  explain  that  all  these  duties  and 
assessments  are  added  to  the  price  of  the  articles  upon  which 
they  are  levied,  and  thus  become  a  tax  upon  all  those  who  buy 
these  articles  for  use  and  consumption.  I  suppose,  too,  if  is 
well  understood  that  the  effect  of  this  tariff  taxation  is  not 
limited  to  the  consumers  of  imported  articles,  but  that  the 
duties  imposed  upon  such  articles  permit  a  corresponding 
increase  in  price  to  be  laid  upon  domestic  productions  of  the 
same  kind;  which  increase,  paid  by  all  our  people  as  consum 
ers  of  home  productions  and  entering  every  American  home, 


- 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  19 

constitutes  a  form  of  taxation  as  certain  and  as  inevitable  as 
though  the  amount  was  annually  paid  into  the  hand  of  the  tax 
gatherer. 

These  results  are  inseparable  from  the  plan  we  have  adopted 
for  the  collection  of  our  revenue  by  tariff  duties.  They  are 
not  mentioned  to  discredit  the  system,  but  by  way  of  preface 
to  the  statement  that  every  million  of  dollars  collected  at  our 
ustom  houses  for  duties  upon  imported  articles  and  paid  into 
the  public  treasury,  represents  many  millions  more  which, 
though  never  reaching  the  national  treasury,  are  paid  by  our 
citizens  as  the  increased  cost  of  domestic  productions  resulting 
from  our  tariff  laws. 

In  these  circumstances,  and  in  view  of  this  necessary  effect 
of  the  operation  of  our  plan  for  raising  revenue,  the  absolute 
duty  of  limiting  the  rate  of  tariff  charges  to  the  necessities  of 
a  frugal  and  economical  administration  of  the  government 
seems  to  be  perfectly  plain.  The  continuance,  upon  the  pretext 
of  meeting  public  expenditures,  of  such  a  scale  of  tariff  taxa 
tion  as  draws  from  the  substance  of  the  people  a  sum  largely  in 
excess  of  public  needs,  is  surely  something  which,  under  a  gov 
ernment  based  upon  justice,  and  which  finds  its  strength  and 
usefulness  in  the  faith  and  trust  of  the  people,  ought  not  to  be 
tolerated. 

While  the  heaviest  burdens  incident  to  the  necessities  of  the 

government  are  uncomplainingly  borne,  light  burdens  become 

grievous  and  intolerable  when  not  justified  by  such  necessities. 

Unnecessary  taxation  is  unjust  taxation. 

And  yet  this  is  our  condition.     We  are  annually  collecting 

at  our  custom  houses,  and  by  means  of  our  internal  revenue 

taxation,  many  millions  in  excess  of  all  legitimate  public  needs. 

As  a  consequence,  there  now  remains  in  the  national  treasury 

a  surplus   of  more   than  one   hundred  and   thirty  millions  of 

dollars. 

No  better  evidence  could  be  furnished  that  the  people  are 
exorbitantly  taxed.  The  extent  of  the  superfluous  burden 
indicated  by  this  surplus  will  be  better  appreciated  when  it  is 


20  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

suggested  that  such  surplus  alone  represents  taxation  aggre 
gating  more  than  one  hundred  and  eight  thousand  dollars  in  a 
county  containing  fifty  thousand  inhabitants. 

Taxation  has  always  been  the  feature  of  organized  govern 
ment  the  hardest  to  reconcile  with  the  people's  ideas  of  free 
dom  and  happiness.  When  presented  in  a  direct  form,  nothing 

1  arouse  popular  discontent  more  quickly  and  profoundly 
than  unjust  and  unnecessary  taxation.  Our  farmers  me 
chanics,  laborers,  and  all  our  citizens,  closely  scan  the  slightest 
increase  m  the  taxes  assessed  upon  their  lands  and  other  prop 
erty,  and  demand  good  reason  for  such  increase  And  yet 
they  seem  to  be  expected,  in  some  quarters,  to  regard  the 
unnecessary  volume  of  insidious  and  indirect  taxation  visited 
upon  them  by  our  present  rate  of  tariff  duties  with  indifference 
if  not  with  favor. 

The  surplus  revenue  now  remaining  in  the  treasury  not  only 
urmshes  conclusive  proof  of  unjust  taxation,  but  its  existence 
constitutes  a  separate  and  independent  menace  to  the  prosper 
ity  of  the  people. 

This  vast  accumulation  of  idle  funds  represents  that  much 
money  drawn  from  the  circulating  medium  of  the  country 
which  is  needed  in  the  channels  of  trade  and  business. 

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  the  consequences  which 
low  the  continual  withdrawal  and  hoarding  by  the  govern 
ment  of  the  currency  of  the    people    are    not    of   immediate 
importance   to    the  mass    of  our  citizens,   and   only   concern 
those  engaged  in  large  financial  transactions. 

In  the  restless  enterprise  and  activity  which  free  and  ready 
money  among  the  people  produces  is  found  that  opportunity 
r  labor  and  employment,  and  that  impetus  to  business  and 
production,  which  bring  in  their  train  prosperity  to  our  citi 
zens  m  every  station  and  vocation.  New  ventures  new 
investments  in  business  and  manufacture,  the  construction  of 
new  and  important  works,  and  the  enlargement  of  enterprises 
already  established,  depend  largely  upon  obtaining  money  upon 
Msy  terms  with  fair  security;  and  all  these  things  are  stimu- 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  21 

lated  by  an  abundant  volume  of  circulating  medium.  Even 
the  harvested  grain  of  the  farmer  remains  without  a  market, 
unless  money  is  forthcoming  for  its  movement  and  transporta 
tion  to  the  seaboard. 

The  first  result  of  a  scarcity  of  money  among  the  people  is 
the  exaction  of  severe  terms  for  its  use.  Increasing  distrust 
and  timidity  are  followed  by  a  refusal  to  loan  or  advance  on  any 
terms.  Investors  refuse  all  risks  and  decline  all  securities,  and 
in  a  general  fright  the  money  still  in  the  hands  of  the  people  is 
persistently  hoarded.  It  is  quite  apparent  that  when  this  per 
fectly  natural,  if  not  inevitable,  stage  is  reached,  depression  in 
all  business  and  enterprise  will,  as  a  necessary  consequence, 
lessen  the  opportunity  for  work  and  employment,  and  reduce 
salaries  and  the  wages  of  labor. 

Instead,  then,  of  being  exempt  from  the  influence  and  effect 
of  an  immense  surplus  lying  idle  in  the  national  treasury,  our 
wage-earners,  and  others  who  rely  upon  their  labor  for  support, 
are  most  of  all  directly  concerned  in  the  situation.  Others, 
seeing  the  approach  of  danger,  may  provide  against  it,  but  it 
will  find  those  depending  upon  their  daily  toil  for  bread  unpre 
pared,  helpless,  and  defenseless.  Such  a  state  of  affairs  does 
not  present  a  case  of  idleness  resulting  from  disputes  between 
the  laboring  man  and  his  employer,  but  it  produces  an  abso 
lute  and  enforced  stoppage  of  employment  and  wages. 

In  reviewing  the  bad  effects  of  this  accumulated  surplus  and 
the  scale  of  tariff  rates  by  which  it  is  produced,  we  must  not 
overlook  the  tendency  toward  gross  and  scandalous  public 
extravagance  which  a  congested  treasury  induces,  nor  the  fact 
that  we  are  maintaining  without  excuse,  in  a  time  of  profound 
peace,  substantially  the  rates  of  tariff  duties  imposed  in  time 
of  war,  when  the  necessities  of  the  government  justified  the 
imposition  of  the  weightiest  burdens  upon  the  people. 

Divers  plans  have  been  suggested  for  the  return  of  this 
accumulated  surplus  to  the  people  and  the  channels  of  trade. 
Some  of  these  devices  are  at  variance  with  all  rules  of  good 
finance;  some  are  delusive,  some  are  absurd,  and  some  betray, 


SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

by  their  reckless  extravagance,  the  demoralizing  influence  of  a 
great  surplus  of  public  money  upon  the  judgments  of  indi 
viduals. 

While  such  efforts  should  be  made  as  are  consistent  with 
public  duty,  and  sanctioned  by  sound  judgment,  to  avoid  dan 
ger  by  the  useful  disposition  of  the  surplus  now  remaining  in 
the  treasury,  it  is  evident  that,  if  its  distribution  were  accom 
plished,  another  accumulation  would  soon  take  its  place  if  the 
constant  flow  of  redundant  income  was  not  checked  at  its 
source  by  a  reform  in  our  present  tariff  laws. 

We  do  not  propose  to  deal  with  these  conditions  by  merely 
attempting  to  satisfy  the  people  of  the  truth  of  abstract  theories, 
nor  by  alone  urging  their  assent  to  political  doctrine. 
We  present  to  them  the  propositions  that  they  are  unjustly 
treated  in  the  extent  of  present  Federal  taxation,  that,  as  a 
result,  a  condition  of  extreme  danger  exists,  and  that  it  is  for 
them  to  demand  a  remedy  and  that  defense  and  safety  prom 
ised  in  the  guarantees  of  their  free  government. 

We  believe  that  the  same  means  which  are  adapted  to  relieve 
the  treasury  of  its  present  surplus  and  prevent  its  recurrence, 
should  cheapen  to  our  people  the  cost  of  supplying  their  daily 
wants.  Both  of  these  objects  we  seek  in  part  to  gain  by  reduc 
ing  the  present  tariff  rates  upon  the  necessaries  of  life. 

We  fully  appreciate  the  importance  to  the  country  of  our 
domestic  industrial  enterprises.  In  the  rectification  of  existing 
wrongs  their  maintenance  and  prosperity  should  be  carefully 
and  in  a  friendly  spirit  considered.  Even  such  reliance  upon 
present  revenue  arrangements  as  has  been  invited  or  encour 
aged  should  be  fairly  and  justly  regarded.  Abrupt  and  radical 
changes  which  might  endanger  such  enterprises,  and  injuriously 
affect  the  interests  of  labor  dependent  upon  their  success  and 
continuance,  are  not  contemplated  or  intended. 

But  we  know  the  cost  of  our  domestic  manufactured  products 
is  increased,  and  their  price  to  the  consumer  enhanced,  by  the 
duty  imposed  upon  the  raw  material  used  in  their  manufac 
ture.  We  know  that  this  increased  cost  prevents  the  sale  of 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  23 

our  productions  at  foreign  markets  in  competition  with  those 
countries  which  have  the  advantage  of  free  raw  material.  We 
know  that,  confined  to  a  home  market,  our  manufacturing  oper 
ations  are  curtailed,  their  demand  for  labor  irregular,  and  the 
rate  of  wages  paid  uncertain. 

We  propose,  therefore,  to  stimulate  our  domestic  industrial 
enterprises  by  freeing  from  duty  the  imported  raw  materials 
which,  by  the  employment  of  labor,  are  used  in  our  home  man 
ufactures,  thus  extending  the  markets  for  their  sale  and  per 
mitting  an  increased  and  steady  production  with  the  allowance 
of  abundant  profits. 

True  to  the  undeviating  course  of  the  Democratic  party,  we 
will  not  neglect  the  interests  of  labor  and  our  workingmen.  In 
all  efforts  to  remedy  existing  evils,  we  will  furnish  no  excuse 
for  the  loss  of  employment  or  the  reduction  of  the  wage  of 
honest  toil.  On  the  contrary,  we  propose,  in  any  adjustment 
of  our  revenue  laws,  to  concede  such  encouragement  and  advan 
tage  to  the  employers  of  domestic  labor  as  will  easily  compen 
sate  for  any  difference  that  may  exist  between  the  standard  of 
wages  which  should  be  paid  to  our  laboring  men  and  the  rate 
allowed  in  other  countries.  We  propose,  too,  by  extend 
ing  the  markets  for  our  manufacturers  to  promote  the 
steady  employment  of  labor,  while  by  cheapening  the  cost  of 
the  necessaries  of  life  we  increase  the  purchasing  power  of 
the  workingman's  wages  and  add  to  the  comforts  of  his 
home. 

And  before  passing  from  this  phase  of  the  question  I  am 
constrained  to  express  the  opinion  that,  while  the  interests  of 
labor  should  be  always  sedulously  regarded  in  any  modification 
of  our  tariff  laws,  an  additional  and  more  direct  and  efficient 
protection  to  these  interests  would  be  afforded  by  the  restric 
tion  and  prohibition  of  the  immigration  or  importation  of 
laborers  from  other  countries,  who  swarm  upon  our  shores, 
having  no  purpose  or  intent  of  becoming  our  fellow-citizens,  or 
acquiring  any  permanent  interest  in  our  country,  but  who 
crowd  every  field  of  employment  with  unintelligent  labor  at 


24  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

wages  which  ought  not  to  satisfy  those  who  make  claim  to 
American  citizenship. 

The  platform  adopted  by  the  late  National  Convention  of 
our  party  contains  the  following  declaration:  "Judged  by 
Democratic  principles,  the  interests  of  the  people  are  betrayed 
when  by  unnecessary  taxation  trusts  and  combinations  are  per 
mitted  and  fostered  which,  while  unduly  enriching  the  few  that 
combine,  rob  the  body  of  our  .citizens  by  depriving  them  as 
purchasers  of  the  benefits  of  natural  competition." 

Such  combinations  have  always  been  condemned  by  the 
Democratic  party.  The  declaration  of  its  National  Conven 
tion  is  sincerely  made,  and  no  member  of  our  party  will  be 
found  excusing  the  existence  or  belittling  the  pernicious  results 
of  these  devices  to  wrong  the  people.  Under  various  names  they 
have  been  punished  by  the  common  law  for  hundreds  of  years; 
and  they  have  lost  none  of  their  hateful  features  because  they 
have  assumed  the  name  of  trusts,  instead  of  conspiracies. 

We  believe  that  these  trusts  are  the  natural  offspring  of  a 
market  artificially  restricted;  that  an  inordinately  high  tariff, 
besides  furnishing  the  temptation  for  their  existence,  enlarges 
the  limit  within  which  they  may  operate  against  the  people, 
and  thus  increases  the  extent  of  their  power  for  wrong-do 
ing. 

With  an  unalterable  hatred  of  all  such  schemes,  we  count  the 
checking  of  their  baleful  operations  among  the  good  results 
promised  by  revenue  reform. 

While  we  cannot  avoid  partisan  misrepresentation,  our  posi 
tion  upon  the  question  of  revenue  reform  should  be  so  plainly 
stated  as  to  admit  of  no  misunderstanding. 

We  have  entered  upon  no  crusade  of  free  trade.  The  reform 
we  seek  to  inaugurate  is  predicated  upon  the  utmost  care  for 
established  industries  and  enterprises,  a  jealous  regard  for  the 
interests  of  American  labor,  and  a  sincere  desire  to  relieve  the 
country  from  the  injustice  and  danger  which  threaten  evil  to 
all  the  people  of  the  land. 

We  are  dealing  with  no  imaginary   danger.     Its   existence 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  25 

has   been    repeatedly    confessed    by    all  political   parties,  and 
pledges  of  a  remedy  have  been  made  on  all  sides. 

Yet,  when  in  the  legislative  body,  where  under  the  Consti 
tution  all  remedial  measures  applicable  to  this  subject  must 
originate,  the  Democratic  majority  were  attempting,  with 
extreme  moderation,  to  redeem  the  pledge  common  to  both 
parties,  they  were  met  by  determined  opposition  and  obstruc 
tion;  and  the  minority,  refusing  to  co-operate  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  or  propose  another  remedy,  have  remitted  the 
redemption  of  their  party  pledge  to  the  doubtful  power  of  the 
Senate. 

The  people  will  hardly  be  deceived  by  their  abandonment 
of  the  field  of  legislative  action  to  meet  in  political  convention 
and  flippantly  declare  in  their  party  platform  that  our  conserv 
ative  and  careful  effort  to  relieve  the  situation  is  destructive 
to  the  American  system  of  protection.  Nor  will  the  people  be 
misled  by  the  appeal  to  prejudice  contained  in  the  absurd 
allegation  that  we  serve  the  interests  of  Europe,  while  they  will 
support  the  interests  of  America. 

They  propose  in  their  platform  thus  to  support  the  interests 
of  our  country  by  removing  the  internal  revenue  tax  from 
tobacco  and  from  spirits  used  in  the  arts  and  for  mechanical 
purposes.  They  declare  also  that  there  should  be  such  a 
revision  of  our  tariff  laws  as  shall  tend  to  check  the  importation 
of  such  articles  as  are  produced  here.  Thus,  in  proposing  to 
increase  the  duties  upon  such  articles  to  nearly  or  quite  a  pro 
hibitory  point,  they  confess  themselves  willing  to  travel  back 
ward  in  the  road  of  civilization,  and  to  deprive  our  people  of 
the  markets  for  their  goods  which  can  only  be  gained  and 
kept  by  the  semblance,  at  least,  of  an  interchange  of  business, 
while  they  abandon  our  consumers  to  the  unrestrained  oppres 
sion  of  the  domestic  trusts  and  combinations  which  are  in  the 
same  platform  perfunctorily  condemned. 

They  propose  further  to  release  entirely  from  import  duties 
all  articles  of  foreign  production  (except  luxuries)  the  like  of 
which  cannot  be  produced  in  this  country.  The  plain  people 


26  SPEECHES  AND  LETTERS 

of  the  land  and  the  poor,  who  scarcely  use  articles  of  any 
description  produced  exclusively  abroad  and  not  already  free, 
will  find  it  difficult  to  discover  where  their  interests  are 
regarded  in  this  proposition.  They  need  in  their  homes 
cheaper  domestic  necessaries;  and  this  seems  to  be  entirely 
unprovided  for  in  this  proposed  scheme  to  serve  the  country. 

Small  compensation  for  this  neglected  need  is  found  in  the 
further  purpose  here  announced  and  covered  by  the  declara 
tion,  that  if,  after  the  changes  already  mentioned,  there  still 
remains  a  larger  revenue  than  is  requisite  for  the  wants  of  the 
government,  the  entire  internal  taxation  should  be  repealed, 
"rather  than  surrender  any  part  of  our  protective  system." 

Our  people  ask  relief  from  the  undue  and  unnecessary  bur 
den   of    tariff    taxation    now    resting  upon    them.      They   are 
offered  instead— free  tobacco  and  free  whisky. 
They  ask  for  bread  and  they  are  given  a  stone. 
The  implication   contained   in  this    party    declaration,  that 
desperate    measures  are   justified    or  necessary    to   save 'from 
destruction  or  surrender  what  is  termed  our  protective  system, 
should   confuse   no   one.     The   existence  of  such  a  system  is 
entirely  consistent  with  the  regulation  of  the  extent  to  which 
it  should  be  applied  and  the  correction  of  its  abuses. 

Of  course,  in  a  country  as  great  as  ours,  with  such  a  wonder 
ful  variety  of  interests,  often  leading  in  entirely  different  direc 
tions,  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  settle  upon  a  perfect 
tariff  plan.  But  in  accomplishing  the  reform  we  have  entered 
upon,  the  necessity  of  which  is  so  obvious,  I  believe  we  should 
not  be  content  with  a  reduction  of  revenue  involving  the  pro 
hibition  of  importations  and  the  removal  of  the  internal  tax 
upon  whisky.  It  can  be  better  and  more  safely  done  within 
the  lines  of  granting  actual  relief  to  the  people  in  their  means 
of  living,  and  at  the  same  time  giving  an  impetus  to  our 
domestic  enterprises  and  furthering  our  National  welfare. 

If  misrepresentations  of  our  purposes  and  motives  are  to  gain 
credence  and  defeat  our  present  effort  in  this  direction,  there 
seems  to  be  no  reason  why  every  endeavor  in  the  future  to 


ACCEPTING  NOMINATIONS.  27 

accomplish  revenue  reform  should  not  be  likewise  attacked  and 
•with  like  result.  And  yet  no  thoughtful  man  can  fail  to  see  in 
the  continuance  of  the  present  burdens  of  the  people,  and  the 
abstraction  by  the  government  of  the  currency  of  the  country, 
inevitable  distress  and  disaster.  All  danger  will  be  averted  by 
timely  action.  The  difficulty  of  applying  the  remedy  will 
never  be  less,  and  the  blame  should  not  be  laid  at  the  door  of 
the  Democratic  party  if  it  is  applied  too  late. 

With  firm  faith  in  the  intelligence  and  patriotism  of  our 
countrymen,  and  relying  upon  the  conviction  that  misrepre 
sentation  will  not  influence  them,  prejudice  will  not  cloud  their 
understanding  and  that  menace  will  not  intimidate  them,  let 
us  urge  the  people's  interest,  and  public  duty,  for  the  vindica 
tion  of  our  attempt  to  inaugurate  a  righteous  and  beneficent 

reform. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  II. 

INAUGURAL    MESSAGE    AND    SPEECHES. 
I. 

As  Mayor  of  Buffalo,  January  2,   1882. 

To  THE  HONORABLE  THE  COMMON  COUNCIL: 

In  presenting  to  you  my  first  official  communication,  I  am 
by  no  means  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  I  address  a  body,  many 
of  the  members  of  which  have  had  large  experience  in  munici 
pal  affairs;  and  which  is  directly  charged,  more  than  any 
other  instrumentality,  with  the  management  of  the  government 
of  the  city  and  the  protection  of  the  interests  of  all  the  people 
within  its  limits.  This  condition  of  things  creates  grave 
responsibilities,  which,  I  have  no  doubt,  you  fully  appreciate. 
It  may  not  be  amiss,  however,  to  remind  you  that  our  fellow- 
citizens,  just  at  this  time,  are  particularly  watchful  of  those  in 
whose  hands  they  have  placed  the  administration  of  the  city 
government,  and  demand  of  them  the  most  watchful  care  and 
conscientious  economy. 

We  hold  the  money  of  the  people  in  our  hands  to  be  used  for 
their  purposes  and  to  further  their  interests  as  members  of  the 
municipality;  and  it  is  quite  apparent  that  when  any  part  of 
the  funds  which  the  taxpayers  have  thus  intrusted  to  us  is 
diverted  to  other  purposes,  or  when,  by  design  or  neglect,  we 
allow  a  greater  sum  to  be  applied  to  any  municipal  purpose 
than  is  necessary,  we  have,  to  that  extent,  violated  our  duty. 
There  surely  is  no  difference  in  his  duties  and  obligations, 
whether  a  person  is  intrusted  with  the  money  of  one  man  or 
many.  And  yet  it  sometimes  appears  as  though  the  office 
holder  assumes  that  a  different  rule  of  fidelity  prevails  between 

28 


INAUGURAL  MESSAGE  AND   SPEECHES.  29 

him  and  the  taxpayers  than  that  which  should  regulate  bis  con 
duct  when,  as  an  individual,  he  holds  the  money  of  his 
neighbor. 

It  seems  to  me  that  a  successful  and  faithful  administration 
of  the  government  of  our  city  may  be  accomplished,  by  bear 
ing  in  mind  that  we  are  the  trustees  and  agents  of  our  fellow- 
citizens,  holding  their  funds  in  sacred  trust,  to  be  expended  for 
their  benefit;  that  we  should  at  all  times  be  prepared  to  render 
an  honest  account  to  them  touching  the  manner  of  its  expen 
diture,  and  that  the  affairs  of  the  city  should  be  conducted,  as 
far  as  possible,  upon  the  same  principles  as  a  good  business 
man  manages  his  private  concerns. 

I  am  fully  persuaded  that  in  the  performance  of  your  duties 
these  rules  will  be  observed.  And  I,  perhaps,  should  not  do 
less  than  to  assure  your  honorable  body  that,  so  far  as  it  is  in 
my  power,  I  shall  be  glad  to  co-operate  with  you  in  securing 
the  faithful  performance  of  official  duty  in  every  department 
of  the  city  government. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  duties  which  should  be  performed  by 
this  officer  [the  City  Auditor]  have  been 'entirely  misappre 
hended.  I  understand  that  it  has  been  supposed  that  he  does 
all  that  is  required  of  him  when  he  tests  the  correctness  of  the 
extensions  and  footings  of  an  account  presented  to  him,  copies 
the  same  in  a  book  and  audits  the  same  as  charged,  if  the 
extensions  and  footings  are  found  correct.  This  work  is  cer 
tainly  not  difficult,  and  might  well  be  done  by  a  lad  but  slightly 
acquainted  with  figures.  The  charter  requires  that  this  officer 
"shall  examine  and  report  upon  all  unliquidated  claims  against 
the  city,  before  the  same  shall  be  audited  by  the  common 
council."  Is  it  not  very  plain  that  the  examination  of  a  claim 
means  something  more  than  the  footing  of  the  account  by 
which  that  claim  is  represented?  And  is  it  not  equally  plain 
that  the  report  provided  for  includes  more  than  the  approval 
of  all  accounts  which,  on  their  face,  appear  correct?  There  is 
no  question  but  that  he  should  inquire  into  the  merits  of  the 


30  INAUGURAL   MESSAGE  AND  SPEECHES. 

claims  presented  to  him;  and  he  should  be  fitted  to  do  so  by  a 
familiarity  with  the  value  of  the  articles  and  services  embodied 
in  the  accounts.  In  this  way  he  may  protect  the  interests  of 
the  city;  otherwise  his  services  are  worse  than  useless,  so  far 
as  his  action  is  relied  upon. 

I  am  utterly  unable  to  discover  any  valid  reason  why  the 
city  offices  should  be  closed  and  the  employees  released  from 
their  duties  at  the  early  hour  in  the  day  which  seems  now  to  be 
regarded  as  the  limit  of  a  day's  work.  I  am  sure  no  man 
would  think  an  active  private  business  was  well  attended  to  if 
he  and  all  his  employees  ceased  work  at  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon.  The  salaries  paid  by  the  city  to  its  officers  and 
their  employees  entitle  it  to  a  fair  day's  work.  Besides,  these 
offices  are  for  the  transaction  of  public  business;  and  the  con 
venience  of  all  our  citizens  should  be  consulted  in  respect  to 
the  time  during  which  they  should  remain  open. 

I  suggest  the  passage  of  an  ordinance,  prescribing  such  hours 
for  the  opening  and  closing  of  the  city  offices  as  shall  subserve 
the  public  convenience. 

It  would  be  very  desirable  if  some  means  could  be  devised 
to  stop  the  practice,  so  prevalent  among  our  city  employees,  of 
selling  or  assigning  in  advance  their  claims  against  the  city  for 
services  to  be  rendered.  The  ruinous  discounts  charged  and 
allowed  greatly  diminish  the  reward  of  their  labors;  in  many 
cases  habits  of  improvidence  and  carelessness  are  engendered, 
and  in  all  cases  this  hawking  and  trafficking  in  claims  against 
the  city  presents  a  humiliating  spectacle. 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  disclaim  any  dictation  as  to  the 
performance  of  your  duties.  I  recognize  fully  the  fact  that 
with  you  rests  the  responsibility  of  all  legislation  which  touches 
the  prosperity  of  the  city  and  the  correction  of  abuses.  I  do 
not  arrogate  to  myself  any  great  familiarity  with  municipal 
affairs,  nor  any  superior  knowledge  of  the  city's  needs.  I 
speak  to  you  not  only  as  the  chief  executive  officer  of  the  city, 
but  as  a  citizen  proud  of  its  progress  and  commanding  posi- 


INAUGURAL   MESSAGE  AND  SPEECHES.  31 

tion.  In  this  spirit  the  suggestions  herein  contained  are  made. 
If  you  deem  them  worthy  of  consideration,  I  shall  still  be 
anxious  to  aid  the  adoption  arid  enforcement  of  any  measures 
which  you  may  inaugurate  looking  to  the  advancement  of  the 
interests  of  the  city  and  the  welfare  of  its  inhabitants. 


II. 

Address  as  Governor,  at  Albany,  January  i,  1883. 

GOVERNOR  CORNELL : 

1  am  profoundly  grateful  for  your  pleasant  words  and  kind 
wishes  for  my  success.  You  speak  in  full  view  of  labors  that 
are  past  and  duty  well  performed,  and  no  doubt  you  gener 
ously  suppose  what  you  have  safely  encountered  and  over 
come,  another  may  not  fear  to  meet. 

But  I  cannot  be  unmindful  of  the  difficulties  that  beset  the 
path  upon  which  I  enter,  and  I  shall  be  quite  content  if,  when 
the  end  is  reached,  I  may,  like  you,  look  back  upon  an  official 
career  honorable  to  myself  and  useful'  to  the  people  of  the 
State. 

I  cannot  forbear  at  this  time  also  to  express  my  appreciation 
of  the  hearty  kindness  and  consideration  with  which  you  have, 
at  other  times,  sought  to  make  easier  my  performance  of  official 
duty. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

You  have  assembled  to-day  to  witness  the  retirement  of  an 
officer,  tried  and  trusted,  from  the  highest  place  in  the  State, 
and  the  assumption  of  its  duties  by  one  yet  to  be  tried.  This 
ceremony,  simple  and  unostentatious,  as  becomes  the  spirit  of 
our  institutions,  is  yet  of  vast  importance  to  you  and  all  the 
people  of  this  great  Commonwealth.  The  interests  now  trans 
ferred  to  new  hands  are  yours;  and  the  duties  here  newly 
assumed  should  be  performed  for  your  benefit  and  your  good. 
This  you  have  the  right  to  demand  and  enforce  by  the  means 


32  INAUGURAL  MESSAGE  AND  SPEECHES. 

placed  in  your  hands,  which  you  well  know  how  to  use;  and  if 
the  public  servant  should  always  know  that  he  is  jealousty 
watched  by  the  people,  he  surely  would  be  none  the  less  faith 
ful  to  his  trust. 

This  vigilance  on  the  part  of  the  citizen,  and  an  active  inter 
est  and  participation  in  political  concerns,  are  the  safeguards 
of  his  rights;  but  sluggish  indifference  to  political  privileges 
invites  the  machinations  of  those  who  wait  to  betray  the  peo 
ple's  trust.  Thus,  when  the  conduct  of  public  affairs  receives 
your  attention,  you  not  only  perform  your  duty  as  citizens, 
but  protect  your  own  best  interests.  While  this  is  true,  and 
while  those  whom  you  put  in  place  should  be  held  to  strict 
account,  their  opportunity  for  usefulness  should  not  be 
impaired,  nor  their  efforts  for  good  thwarted,  by  unfounded 
and  querulous  complaint  and  cavil. 

Let  us  together,  but  in  our  different  places,  take  part  in  the 
regulation  and  administration  of  the  government  of  our  State, 
and  thus  become,  not  only  the  keepers  of  our  own  interests' 
but  contributors  to  the  progress  and  prosperity  which  will 
await  us. 

I  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  the  office  to 
which  my  fellow-citizens  have  called  me  with  a  profound  sense 
of  responsibility;  but  my  hope  is  in  the  guidance  of  a  kind 
Providence,  which  I  believe  will  aid  an  honest  design;  and  the 
forbearance  of  a  just  people,  which,  I  trust,  will  recognize  a 
patriotic  endeavor. 

III. 

Address  as  President,  at  Washington,  March  4,  1885. 
FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

In  the  presence  of  this  vast  assemblage  of  my  countrymen  I 
am  about  to  supplement  and  seal,  by  the  oath  which  I  shall 
take,  the  manifestation  of  the  will  of  a  great  and  free  people. 
In  the  exercise  of  their  power  and  right  of  self-government 
they  have  committed  to  one  of  their  fellow-citizens  a  supreme 


INAUGURAL   MESSAGE  AND  SPEECHES.  33 

and  sacred   trust;    and  he    here   consecrates  himself  to  their 
service. 

This  impressive  ceremony  adds  little  to  the  solemn  sense  of 
responsibility  with  which  I  contemplate  the  duty  I  owe  to  all 
the  people  of  the  land.  Nothing  can  relieve  me  from  anxiety 
lest  by  any  act  of  mine  their  interests  may  suffer,  and  nothing 
is  needed  to  strengthen  my  resolution  to  engage  every  faculty 
and  effort  in  the  promotion  of  their  welfare. 

Amid  the  din  of  party  strife  the  people's  choice  was  made; 
but  its  attendant  circumstances  have  demonstrated  anew  the 
strength  and  safety  of  a  government  by  the  people.  In  each 
succeeding  year  it  more  clearly  appears  that  our  democratic 
principle  needs  no  apology,  and  that  in  its  fearless  and  faithful 
application  is  to  be  found  the  surest  guaranty  of  good  govern 
ment. 

But  the  best  results  in  the  operation  of  a  government  wherein 
every  citizen  has  a  share,  largely  depend  upon  a  proper  limita 
tion  of  purely  partisan  zeal  and  effort,  and  a  correct  apprecia 
tion  of  the  time  when  the  heat  of  the  partisan  should  be 
merged  in  the  patriotism  of  the  citizen. 

/  To-day  the  executive  branch  of  the  government  is  trans 
ferred  to  new  keeping.  But  this  is  still  the  government  of  all 
the  people,  and  it  should  be  none  the  less  an  object  of  their 
affectionate  solicitude,  j  At  this  hour  the  animosities  of  politi 
cal  strife,  the  bitterness  of  partisan  defeat,  and  the  exultation 
of  partisan  triumph  should  be  supplanted  by  an  ungrudging 
acquiescence  in  the  popular  will,  and  a  sober,  conscientious 
concern  for  the  general  weal.  Moreover,  if,  from  this  hour, 
we  cheerfully  and  honestly  abandon  all  sectional  prejudice  and 
distrust,  and  determine,  with  manly  confidence  in  one  another, 
to  work  out  harmoniously  the  achievements  of  our  national 
destiny,  we  shall  deserve  to  realize  all  the  benefits  which  our 
happy  form  of  government  can  bestow. 

On  this  auspicious  occasion  we  may  well  renew  the  pledge 
of  our  devotion  to  the  Constitution,  which,  launched  by  the 
founders  of  the  republic  and  consecrated  by  their  prayers  and 


34  INAUGURAL  MESSAGE  AND  SPEECHES. 

patriotic  devotion,  has  for  almost  a  century  borne  the  hopes 
and  the  aspirations  of  a  great  people  through  prosperity  and 
peace,  and  through  the  shock  of  foreign  conflicts  and  the  perils 
of  domestic  strife  and  vicissitudes. 

By  the  Father  of  his  Country  our  Constitution  was  com 
mended  for  adoption  as  "the  result  of  a  spirit  of  amity  and 
mutual  concession."  In  that  same  spirit  it  should  be  admin 
istered,  in  order  to  promote  the  lasting  welfare  of  the  country, 
and  to  secure  the  full  measure  of  its  priceless  benefits  to  us 
and  to  those  who  will  succeed  to  the  blessings  of  our  national 
life.  The  large  variety  of  diverse  and  competing  interests 
subject  to  Federal  control,  persistently  seeking  the  recognition 
of  their  claims,  need  give  us  no  fear  that  "the  greatest  good  to 
the  greatest  number"  will  fail  to  be  accomplished,  if,  in  the  halls 
of  national  legislation,  that  spirit  of  amity  and  mutual  conces 
sion  shall  prevail  in  which  the  Constitution  had  its  birth.  If 
this  involves  the  surrender  or  postponement  of  private  inter 
ests  and  the  abandonment  of  local  advantages,  compensation 
will  be  found  in  the  assurance  that  the  common  interest  is 

/ubserved  and  the  general  welfare  advanced. 
In  the  discharge  of  my  official  duty  I  shall  endeavor  to  be 
guided  by  a  just  and  unrestrained  construction  of  the  Consti 
tution,  a  careful  observance  of  the  distinction  between  the 
powers  granted  to  the  Federal  government  and  those  reserved 
to  the  State  or  to  the  people,  and  by  a  cautious  appreciation  of 
those  functions  which,  by  the  Constitution  and  laws,  have  been 
especially  assigned  to  the  executive  branch  of  the  government?} 

But  he  who  takes  the  oath  to-day  to  preserve,  protect,  and 
defend  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  only  assumes  the 
solemn  obligation  which  every  patriotic  citizen,  on  the  farm,  in 
the  workshop,  in  the  busy  marts  of  trade,  and  everywhere 
should  share  with  him.  The  Constitution  which  prescribes  his 
oath,  my  countrymen,  is  yours;  the  government  you  have 
chosen  him  to  administer  for  a  time  is  yours;  the  suffrage 
which  executes  the  will  of  freemen  is  yours;  the  laws  and  the 
entire  scheme  of  our  civil  rule,  from  the  town  meeting  to  the 


INAUGURAL   MESSAGE  AND  SPEECHES.  35 

State  capitals  and  the  national  capital,  are  yours.  Your  every 
voter  as  surely  as  your  Chief  Magistrate  under  the  same  high 
sanction,  though  in  a  different  sphere,  exercises  a  public  trust. 
Nor  is  this  all.  Every  citizen  owes  to  the  country  a  vigilant 
watch  and  close  scrutiny  of  its  public  servants,  and  a  fair  and 
reasonable  estimate  of  their  fidelity  and  usefulness.  Thus  is 
the  people's  will  impressed  upon  the  whole  framework  of  our 
civil  polity — municipal,  State,  and  Federal ;  and  this  is  the 
price  of  our  liberty  and  the  inspiration  of  our  faith  in  the 
republic. 

It  is  the  duty  of  those  serving  the  people  in  public  place 
closely  to  limit  public  expenditures  to  the  actual  needs  of  the 
government  economically  administered,  because  this  bounds 
the  right  of  the  government  to  exact  tribute  from  the  earnings 
of  labor  or  the  property  of  the  citizen,  and  because  public 
extravagance  begets  extravagance  among  the  people.  We 
should  never  be  ashamed  of  the  simplicity  and  prudential 
economies  which  are  best  suited  to  the  operation  of  a  republi 
can  form  of  government  and  most  compatible  with  the  mission 
of  the  American  people.  Those  who  are  selected  for  a  limited 
time  to  manage  public  affairs  are  still  of  the  people,  and  may 
do  much  by  their  example  to  encourage,  consistently  with  the 
dignity  of  their  official  functions,  that  plain  way  of  life  which 
among  their  fellow-citizens  aids  integrity  and  promotes  thrift 
and  prosperity. 

The  genius  of  our  institutions,  the  needs  of  our  people  in 
their  home  life,  and  the  attention  which  is  demanded  for  the 
settlement  and  development  of  the  resources  of  our  vast  terri 
tory,  dictate  the  scrupulous  avoidance  of  any  departure  from 
that  foreign  policy  commended  by  the  history,  the  traditions, 
and  the  prosperity  of  our  republic.  It  is  the  policy  of  inde 
pendence,  favored  by  our  position  and  defended  by  our  known 
love  of  justice  and  by  our  power.  It  is  the  policy  of  peace 
suitable  to  our  interests.  It  is  the  policy  of  neutrality,  reject 
ing  any  share  in  foreign  broils  and  ambitions  upon  other  con 
tinents,  and  repelling  their  intrusion  here.  It  is  the  policy  of 


36  INAUGURAL   MESSAGE  AND  SPEECHES. 

Monroe  and  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  :  "Peace,  commerce, 
and  honest  friendship  with  all  nations;  entangling  alliance 
with  none." 

A  due  regard  for  the  interests  and  prosperity  of  all  the  peo 
ple  demands  that  our  finances  shall  be  established  upon  such 
a  sound  and  sensible  basis  as  shall  secure  the  safety  and  confi 
dence  of  business  interests  and  make  the  wage  of  labor  sure 
and  steady;  and  that  our  system  of  revenue  shall  be  so  adjusted 
as  to  relieve  the  people  of  unnecessary  taxation,  having  a  due 
regard  to  the  interests  of  capital  invested  and  workingmen 
employed  in  American  industries,  and  preventing  the  accumu 
lation  of  a  surplus  in  the  treasury  to  tempt  extravagance  and 
waste. 

Care  for  the  property  of  the  nation,  and  for  the  needs  of 
future  settlers,  requires  that  the  public  domain  should  be  pro 
tected  from  purloining  schemes  and  unlawful  occupation. 

The  conscience  of  the  people  demands  that  the  Indians 
within  our  boundaries  shall  be  fairly  and  honestly  treated  as 
wards  of  the  government,  and  their  education  and  civilization 
promoted,  with  a  view  to  their  ultimate  citizenship;  and  that 
polygamy  in  the  Territories,  destructive  of  the  family  relation 
and  offensive  to  the  moral  sense  of  the  civilized  world,  shall  be 
repressed. 

The  laws  should  be  rigidly  enforced  which  prohibit  the 
immigration  of  a  servile  class  to  compete  with  American  labor, 
with  no  intention  of  acquiring  citizenship,  and  bringing  with 
them  and  retaining  habits  and  customs  repugnant  to  our  civili- 

?ation. 

/ 

The  people  demand  reform  in  the  administration  of  the 
government  and  the  application  of  business  principles  to 
public  affairs.  As  a  means  to  this  end  civil  service  reform 
should  be  in  good  faith  enforced.  Our  citizens  have  the  right 
to  protection  from  the  incompetency  of  public  employees  who 
hold  their  places  solely  as  the  reward  of  partisan  service,  and 
from  the  corrupting  influence  of  those  who  promise  and  the 
vicious  methods  of  those  who  expect  such  rewards.  And  those 


INAUGURAL   MESSAGE  AND  SPEECHES.  37 

who  worthily  seek  public  employment  have  the  right  to  insist 
that  merit  and  competency  shall  be  recognized  instead  of  party 
subserviency  or  the  surrender  of  honest  political  belief. 

In  the  administration  of  a  government  pledged  to  do  equal 
and  exact  justice  to  all  men,  there  should  be  no  pretext  for 
anxiety  touching  the  protection  of  the  freedmen  in  their  rights, 
or  their  security  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  privileges  under  the 
Constitution  and  its  amendments.  All  discussion  as  to  their 
fitness  for  the  place  accorded  to  them  as  American  citizens  is 
idle  and  unprofitable,  except  as  it  suggests  the  necessity  for 
their  improvement.  The  fact  that  they  are  citizens  entitles  them 
to  all  the  rights  due  to  that  relation,  and  charges  them  with  all 
its  duties,  obligations,  and  responsibilities. 

These  topics,  and  the  constant  and  ever-varying  wants  of 
an  active  and  enterprising  population,  may  well  receive  the 
attention  and  the  patriotic  endeavor  of  all  who  make  and  exe 
cute  the  Federal  law.  Our  duties  are  practical,  and  call  for 
industrious  application,  an  intelligent  perception  of  the  claims 
of  public  office,  and,  above  all,  a  firm  determination,  by  united 
action,  to  secure  to  all  the  people  of  the  land  the  full  benefits  of 
the  best  form  of  government  ever  vouchsafed  to  man.  And  let 
us  not  trust  to  human  effort  alone;  but,  humbly  acknowledging 
the  power  and  goodness  of  Almighty  God,  who  presides  over 
the  destiny  of  nations,  and  who  has  at  all  times  been  revealed 
in  our  country's  history,  let  us  invoke  his  aid  and  his  bless 
ing  upon  our  labors. 


CHAPTER  III. 

CIVIL    SERVICE    REFORM. 


To  the  New  York  Civil  Service  Reform  Association. 

MAYOR'S  OFFICE, 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y.,  October  28,  1882. 
GENTLEMEN: 

In  answer  to  your  letter  of  inquiry,  dated  October  20,  1882, 
in  relation  to  civil  service  reform,  I  beg  to  refer  you  to  my 
recent  letter  accepting  the  nomination  for  Governor,  in  which 
many  of  the  matters  referred  to  in  your  letter  are  touched 
upon,  and  I  assure  you  that  the  sentiments  therein  expressed 
are  sincerely  and  honestly  entertained,  and  are  stated  without 
any  mental  reservation. 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  I  fully  approve  of  the 
principles  embodied  in  the  Pendleton  bill  relating  to  this  sub 
ject,  and  that  I  should  be  glad  to  aid  in  any  practical  legislation 
which  would  give  them  a  place  in  the  management  of  the  affairs 
of  the  State  and  of  municipalities,  so  far  as  they  can  be  mad( 
applicable  thereto.  I  believe  that  the  interests  of  the  people 
demand  that  a  reform  in  the  national  and  State  administrative 
service  should  speedily  become  an  accomplished  fact,  and  that 
the  public  should  receive  honest  and  faithful  service  at  the 
hands  of  well-fitted  and  competent  servants.  When  contests 
between  parties  are  waged  for  the  purpose  of  securing  places 
for  professional  politicians,  of  high  or  low  degree,  whose  only 
recommendation  for  appointment  is  their  supposed  ability  to 
do  partisan  service,  the  people  are  apt  to  be  defrauded  by  the 
displacement  of  tried  and  faithful  servants,  well  able  to  per 
form  the  duties  for  which  they  are  paid  with  the  people's  money, 

38 


CIVIL    SERVICE  REFORM.  39 

and  the  substitution  of  those  who  are  unfit  and  incompetent. 
In  this  way,  the  interests  of  the  party  may  be  subserved,  but 
the  interests  of  the  people  are  neglected  and  betrayed. 

This  pernicious  system  gives  rise  to  an  office-holding  class, 
who  in  their  partisan  zeal,  based  upon  the  hope  of  personal 
advantage,  arrogate  to  themselves  an  undue  and  mischievous 
interference  with  the  will  of  the  people  in  political  action;  this 
breeds  the  use  of  dishonest  and  reprehensible  methods,  which 
frequently  result  in  the  servants  of  the  people  dictating  to  their 
masters.  If  places  in  the  public  service  are  worth  seeking,  they 
should  be  the  reward  of  merit  and  well-doing,  and  the  oppor 
tunity  to  secure  them  on  that  basis  should  be  open  to  all. 
Those  holding  these  places  should  be  assured  that  their 
tenure  depends  upon  efficiency  and  fidelity  to  their  trusts,  and 
they  should  not  be  allowed  to  use  them  for  partisan  purposes. 
The  money  they  earn  they  should  receive  and  be  allowed  to  re 
tain,  and  no  part  of  it  should  be  exacted  from  them  by  way  of 
political  assessments. 

It  seems  to  me  that  very  much  or  all  of  what  we  desire  in  the 
direction  of  civil  service  reform  is  included  in  the  doctrine  that 
the  concerns  of  the  State  and  nation  should  be  conducted  on 
business  principles,  and  as  nearly  as  possible  in  the  same  man 
ner  that  a  prudent  citizen  conducts  his  private  affairs.  If  this 
principle  is  kept  constantly  in  mind  I  believe  the  details  of  a 
plan  by  which  its  adoption  may  be  secured  will,  without  mucli 
difficulty,  be  suggested.  You  refer  especially  to  mismanage 
ment  in  schools,  asylums,  and  institutions  of  charity  and  cor 
rection,  and  to  the  difficulty  of  securing  the  construction  of  an 
additional  aqueduct  in  the  city  of  New  York.  Without  being 
fully  acquainted  in  detail  with  the  evils  and  obstacles  sur 
rounding  these  subjects,  I  believe  they  may  be  remedied  and 
removed  by  a  due  regard  to  the  dictates  of  humanity  and  de 
cency  and  the  application  of  the  principles  to  which  I  have 
alluded. 

Yours  very  respectfully, 

G ROVER  CLEVELAND. 


4°  CIVIL    SERVICE  REFORM. 

II. 
From  Message  to  the  New    York  Legislature,  January,  1883. 

It  is  submitted  that  the  appointment  of  subordinates  in  the 
several  State  departments,  and  their  tenure  of  office  or  employ 
ment,  should  be  based  upon  fitness  and  efficiency,  and  that 
this  principle  should  be  embodied  in  legislative  enactment,  to 
the  end  that  the  policy  of  the  State  may  conform  to  the  reason 
able  public  demand  on  that  subject. 


III. 

The  Second  Message  to  the  New  York  Legislature,  Jan.,  1884. 

New  York,  then,  leads  in  the  inauguration  of  a  comprehen 
sive  State  system  of  civil  service.     The  principle  of  selecting 
the  subordinate  employees  of  the  State  on  the  ground  of  capac 
ity  and   fitness,  ascertained  according  to  fixed  and  impartial 
rules,  without  regard  to  political  predilections  and  with  reason 
able  assurance  of  retention  and  promotion  in  case  of  meritori 
ous  service,  is  now   the  established  policy  of  the  State.     The 
children  of  our  citizens  are  educated  and  trained  in  schools 
maintained  at  common  expense,  and  the  people,  as  a  whole, 
have  a  right  to  demand  the  selection  for  the  public  service  of 
those  whose  natural  aptitudes  have  been  improved  by  the  edu 
cational  facilities  furnished  by  the  State.     The  application  to 
the  public  service  of  the  same  rule  which  prevails  in  ordinary 
business,  of  employing  those   whose  knowledge  and   training 
best  fit  them  for  the  duties  at  hand,  without  regard  to  other 
considerations,  must  elevate  and  improve  the  civil  service  and 
eradicate  from  it  many  evils  from  which  it  has  long  suffered. 
Not  the  least  gratifying  of  the  results  which  this  system  promises 
to  accomplish  is  relief  to  public  men  from  the  annoyance  of 
importunity    in    the    strife    for   appointments    to    subordinate 
places. 


CIVIL    SERVICE  REFORM.  41 

IV. 
Letter  t>  New    York  Civil  Service  Reform  Association. 

ALBANY,  October  24,  1884. 
HON.   GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS: 

DEAR  SIR:  While  my  letter  of  acceptance,  in  that  part 
devoted  to  civil  service  reform,  has  verbal  reference  to  sub 
ordinates  in  public  affairs,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  there  are 
other  officials  of  a  non-political  character,  to  whose  retention 
in  place  during  the  term  for  which  they  were  appointed  the 
same  considerations  should  apply.  I  am,  of  course,  a  Demo 
crat,  attached  to  the  principles  of  that  party,  and  if  elected  I 
desire  to  remain  true  to  that  organization.  But  I  do  not  think 
partisan  zeal  should  lead  to  "arbitrary  dismissal  for  party  or 
political  reasons"  of  officials  of  the  class  above  referred  to, 
who  have  attended  strictly  to  their  public  duty,  and  have  not 
engaged  in  party  service,  and  who  .have  not  allowed  themselves 
to  be  used  as  partisan  instruments,  or  made  themselves  obnox 
ious  to  the  people  they  should  serve,  by  the  use  of  their  offices 
to  secure  party  ends. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

V. 

Letter  to  the  National  Civil  Service  Reform  League. 

ALBANY,  December  25,  1884. 
HON.   GEORGE  WILLIAM  CURTIS,  President,  etc.: 

DEAR  SIR:  Your  communication  dated  December  20, 
addressed  to  me  on  behalf  of  the  National  Civil  Service  Reform 
League,  has  been  received. 

That  a  practical  reform  in  the  civil  service  is  demanded  is 
abundantly  established  by  the  fact  that  a  statute,  referred  to  in 
your  communication,  to  secure  such  a  result,  has  been  passed 
in  Congress  with  the  assent  of  both  political  parties;  and  by 
the  further  fact  that  a  sentiment  is  generally  prevalent  among 


42  CIVIL    SERVICE   REFORM. 

patriotic  people  calling  for  the  fair  and  honest  enforcement  of 
the  law  which  has  been  thus  enacted.  I  regard  myself  as  pledged 
to  this,  because  my  conception  of  true  Democratic  faith  and 
public  duty  requires  that  this,  and  all  other  statutes,  should  be 
m  good  faith  and  without  evasion  enforced,  and  because,  in 
many  utterances  made  prior  to  my  election  as  President, 
approved  by  the  party  to  which  I  belong  and  which  I  have  no 
disposition  to  disclaim,  I  have  in  effect  promised  the  people 
that  this  should  be  done. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  to  which  you  refer,  that 
many  of  our  citizens  fear  that  the  recent  party  change  in  the 
National  Executive  may  demonstrate  that  the  abuses  which 
have  grown  up  in  the  civil  service  are  ineradicable.  I  know 
that  they  are  deeply  rooted,  and  that  the  spoils  system  has 
been  supposed  to  be  intimately  related  to  success  in  the  main, 
tenance  of  party  organization;  and  I  am  not  sure  that  all  those 
who  profess  to  be  the  friends  of  this  reform  will  stand  firmly 
among  its  advocates,  when  they  find  it  obstructing  their  way 
to  patronage  and  place. 

But,  fully  appreciating  the  trust  committed  to  my  charge,  no 
such  consideration  shall  cause  a  relaxation  on  my  part  of  an 
earnest  effort  to  enforce  this  law. 

There  is  a  class  of  government  positions  which  are  not  within 
the  letter  of  the  civil  service  statute,  but  which  are  so  discon 
nected  with  the  policy  of  an  administration  that  the  removal 
therefrom  of  present  incumbents,  in  my  opinion,  should  not  be 
made  during  the  terms  for  which  they  were  appointed,  solely 
on  partisan  grounds  and  for  the  purpose  of  putting  in  their 
places  those  who  are  in  political  accord  with  the  appointing 
power. 

But  many,  now  holding  such  positions,  have  forfeited  all  just 
claim  to  retention,  because  they  have  used  their  places  for 
party  purposes,  in  disregard  of  their  duty  to  the  people,  and 
because,  instead  of  being  decent  public  servants,  they  'have 
proved  themselves  offensive  partisans,  and  unscrupulous 
manipulators  of  local  party  management. 


CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM.  43 

The  lessons  of  the  past  should  be  unlearned,  and  such  offi 
cials,  as  well  as  their  successors,  should  be  taught  that 
efficiency,  fitness,  and  devotion  to  public  duty  are  the  condi 
tions  of  their  continuance  in  public  place,  and  that  the  quiet 
and  unobtrusive  exercise  of  individual  rights  is  the  reasonable 
measure  of  their  party  service. 

If  I  were  addressing  none  but  party  friends,  I  should  deem 
it  entirely  proper  to  remind  them  that,  though  the  coming 
administration  is  to  be  Democratic,  a  due  regard  for  the  peo 
ple's  interest  does  not  permit  faithful  party  work  to  be  always 
rewarded  by  appointment  to  office;  and  to  say  to  them  that 
while  Democrats  may  expect  all  proper  consideration,  selections 
for  office  not  embraced  within  the  civil  service  rules  will  be 
based  upon  sufficient  inquiry  as  to  fitness,  instituted  by  those 
charged  with  that  duty,  rather  than  upon  persistent  importu 
nity  or  self-solicited  recommendations  on  behalf  of  candidates 
for  appointment. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


VI. 

Accepting  Letter  of  Resignation   of  Dorman  JB.  Eaton. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  September  u,  1885. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  letter  tendering  your  resignation  as  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Civil  Service  Commissioners.  I  can 
not  refrain  from  expressing  my  sincere  regret  that  you  have 
determined  to  withdraw  from  a  position  in  the  public  service 
where  your  intelligent  performance  of  duty  has  been  of  ines 
timable  value  to  the  country.  The  friends  of  civil  service 
reform,  and  all  those  who  desire  good  government,  fully  appre 
ciate  your  devotion  to  the  cause  in  which  you  early  enlisted, 
and  they  have  seen  with  satisfaction  that  your  zeal  and  faith 


44  CIVIL    SERVICE   REFORM. 

have  not  led  you  to  suppose  that  the  reform  in  which  you  were 
engaged  is  unsuited  to  the  rules  which  ordinarily  govern  prog 
ress  in  human  affairs,  or  that  it  should  at  once  reach  perfection 
and  universal  acceptance.  You  have  been  willing  patiently  to 
accept  good  results  as  they,  step  by  step,  could  be  gained, 
holding  every  advance  with  unyielding  steadfastness. 

The  success  which,  thus  far,  has  attended  the  work  of  civil 
service    reform    is    largely   due   to   the   fact  that  its    practical 
friends  have  proceeded  upon  the  theory  that  real  and  healthy 
progress  can  only  be  made  as  such  of  the  people  who  cherish 
pernicious  political   ideas,    long   fostered  and  encouraged  by 
vicious  partisanship,  are  persuaded  that  the   change  contem 
plated  by  the  reform  offers  substantial  improvement  and  bene 
fits.     A   reasonable   toleration  for   old  prejudices,   a  graceful 
recognition  of  every  aid,  a  sensible  utilization  of  every  instru 
mentality  that  promises  assistance,   and  a   constant  effort  to 
demonstrate  the  advantages  of  the  new  order  of  things  are  the 
means  by  which  this  reform  movement  will,  in  the  future,   be 
further    advanced,    the    opposition    of    incorrigible   spoilsmen 
rendered  ineffectual,  and  the  cause  placed  upon  a  sure  founda 
tion.      Of  course,  there  should  be  no  surrender  of  principle 
nor  backward   step,  and  all  laws   for  the  enforcement  of  the 
reform  should  be  rigidly  executed;   but  the  benefits  which  its 
principles  promise  will  not  be  fully  realized  unless  the  acquies 
cence  of  the  people  is  added  to  the  stern  assertion  of  a  doctrine 
and  the  vigorous  execution  of  the  laws. 

It  is  a  source  of  congratulation  that  there  are  so  many 
friends  of  civil  service  reform  marshaled  on  the  practical  side 
of  the  question,  and  that  the  number  is  not  greater  of  those 
who  profess  friendliness  for  the  cause,  and  yet  mischievously, 
and  with  supercilious  self-righteousness,  discredit  every  effort 
not  in  exact  accord  with  their  attenuated  ideas,  decry  with 
carping  criticism  the  labor  of  those  actually  in  the  field  of 
reform,  and,  ignoring  the  conditions  which  bound  and  qualify 
every  struggle  for  a  radical  improvement  in  the  affairs  of  gov 
ernment,  demand  complete  and  immediate  perfection. 


CIVIL    SERVICE   REFORM.  45 

The  reference  in  your  letter  to  the  attitude  of  the  members 
of  my  cabinet  toward  the  merit  system  established  by  the  civil 
service  law,  besides  being  entirely  correct,  exhibits  an  apprecia 
tion  of  honest  endeavor  in  the  direction  of  reform,  and  a  disposi 
tion  to  do  justice  to  proved  sincerity,  which  is  most  gratifying. 
If  such  treatment  of  those  upon  whom  the  duty  rests  of  adminis 
tering  the  government  according  to  reform  methods  was  the  uni 
versal  rule,  and  if  the  embarrassments  and  perplexities  attending 
such  an  administration  were  fairly  regarded  by  all  those  profess 
ing  to  be  friendly  to  such  methods,  the  avowed  enemies  of 
the  cause  would  be  afforded  less  encouragement. 

I  believe  in  civil  service  reform  and  its  application  in  the 
most  practicable  form  attainable,  among  other  reasons,  because 
it  opens  the  door  for  the  rich  and  the  poor  alike  to  a  participa 
tion  in  public  place  holding.  And  I  hope  the  time  is  at  hand 
when  all  our  people  will  see  the  advantage  of  a  reliance  for 
such  an  opportunity  upon  merit  and  fitness  instead  of  upon 
the  caprice  or  selfish  interest  of  those  who  impudently  stand 
between  the  people  and  the  machinery  of  their  government. 
In  the  one  case,  a  reasonable  intelligence,  and  the  education 
which  is  freely  furnished  or  forced  upon  the  youth  of  our  land, 
are  the  credentials  to  office ;  in  the  other,  the  way  is  found 
in  favor,  secured  by  a  participation  in  partisan  work  often 
unfitting  a  person  morally,  if  not  mentally  and  physically,  for 
the  responsibilities  and  duties  of  public  employment. 

You  will  agree  with  me,  I  think,  that  the  support  which  has 
been  given  to  the  present  administration  in  its  efforts  to  pre 
serve  and  advance  this  reform,  by  a  party  restored  to  power 
after  an  exclusion  for  many  years  from  participation  in  the 
places  attached  to  the  public  service;  confronted  with  a  new 
system  precluding  the  redistribution  of  such  places  in  its  inter 
est;  called  upon  to  surrender  advantages  which  a  perverted 
partisanship  had  taught  the  American  people  belonged  to  suc 
cess,  and  perturbed  with  the  suspicions,  always  raised  in  such 
an  emergency,  that  their  rights  in  the  conduct  of  this  reform 
had  not  been  scrupulously  regarded,  should  receive  due 


46  CIVIL    SERVICE   REFORM. 

acknowledgment,  and  should  confirm  our  belief  that  there  is 
a  sentiment  among  the  people  better  than  a  desire  to  hold  office, 
and  a  patriotic  impulse  upon  which  may  safely  rest  the  integ 
rity  of  our  institutions  and  the  strength  and  perpetuity  of  our 
government. 

I  have  determined  to  request  you  to  retain  your  present 
position  until  the  ist  day  of  November  next,  at,  which  time 
your  resignation  may  become  operative.  I  desire  to  express 
my  entire  confidence  in  your  attachment  to  the  cause  of  civil 
service  reform  and  your  ability  to  render  it  efficient  aid,  and  I 
indulge  the  hope  and  expectation  that,  notwithstanding  the 
acceptance  of  your  resignation,  your  interest  in  the  object  for 
which  you  have  labored  so  assiduously  will  continue  beyond 
the  official  term  which  you  surrender. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


VII. 

From  the  First  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December,  1885. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  there  is  no  sentiment  more  gen 
eral  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  our  country  than  a  conviction 
of  the  correctness  of  the  principle  upon  which  the  law  enforc 
ing  civil  service  reform  is  based.  In  its  present  condition  the 
law  regulates  only  a  part  of  the  subordinate  public  positions 
throughout  the  country.  It  applies  the  test  of  fitness  to  appli 
cants  for  these  places  by  means  of  a  competitive  examination, 
and  gives  large  discretion  to  the  commissioners  as  to  the  char 
acter  of  the  examination  and  many  other  matters  connected 
with  its  execution.  Thus,  the  rules  and  regulations  adopted  by 
the  commission  have  much  to  do  with  the  practical  usefulness 
of  the  statute  and  with  the  results  of  its  application. 

The  people  may  well  trust  the  commission  to  execute  the 
law  with  perfect  fairness  and  with  as  little  irritation  as  is  pos 
sible.  But,  of  course,  no  relaxation  of  the  principle  which 


CIVIL    SERVICE   REFORM.  47 

underlies  it,  and  no  weakening  of  the  safeguards  which  sur 
round  it,  can  be  expected.  Experience  in  its  administration 
will  probably  suggest  amendment  of  the  methods  of  its  execu 
tion,  but  I  venture  to  hope  that  we  shall  never  again  be 
remitted  to  the  system  which  distributes  public  positions  purely 
as  rewards  for  partisan  service.  Doubts  may  well  be  enter 
tained  whether  our  government  could  survive  the  strain  of  a 
continuance  of  this  system,  which,  upon  every  change  of  admin 
istration,  inspires  an  immense  army  of  claimants  for  office  to  lay 
siege  to  the  patronage  of  government,  engrossing  the  time  of 
public  officers  with  their  importunities,  spreading  abroad  the 
contagion  of  their  disappointment,  and  filling  the  air  with  the 
tumult  of  their  discontent. 

The  allurements  of  an  immense  number  of  offices  and  places, 
exhibited  to  the  voters  of  the  land,  and  the  promise  of  their 
bestowal  in  recognition  of  partisan  activity,  debauch  the  suf 
frage  and  rob  political  action  of  its  thoughtful  and  deliberative 
character.  The  evil  would  increase  with  the  multiplication 
of  offices  consequent  upon  our  extension,  and  the  mania  for 
office-holding,  growing  from  its  indulgence,  would  pervade  our 
population  so  generally  that  patriotic  purpose,  the  support  of 
principle,  the  desire  for  the  public  good  and  solicitude  for  the 
nation's  welfare  would  be  nearly  banished  from  the  activity  of 
our  party  contests  and  cause  them  to  degenerate  into  ignoble, 
selfish,  and  disgraceful  struggles  for  the  possession  of  office  and 
public  place. 

Civil  service  reform  enforced  by  law  came  none  too  soon  to 
check  the  progress  of  demoralization.  One  of  its  effects,  not 
enough  regarded,  is  the  freedom  it  brings  to  the  political  action 
of  those  conservative  and  sober  men  who,  in  fear  of  the  confu 
sion  and  risk  attending  an  arbitrary  and  sudden  change  in  all 
the  public  offices  with  a  change  of  party  rule,  cast  their  ballots 
against  such  a  chance. 

Parties  seem  to  be  necessary,  and  will  long  continue  to  exist; 
nor  can  it  be  now  denied  that  there  are  legitimate  advantages, 
not  disconnected  with  office-holding,  which  follow  party 


4  CIVIL    SERVICE  REFORM. 

supremacy.       While    partisanship    continues    bitter    and    pro 
nounced,  and  supplies  so  much   of  motive  to  sentiment  and 
action,  it  is  not  fair  to  hold  public  officials,  in  charge  of  impor 
tant  trusts,  responsible  for  the  best  results  in  the  performance 
of  their  duties,  and  yet  insist  that  they  shall  rely,  in  confiden 
tial  and   important   places,  upon  the  work   of  those   not  only 
opposed  to  them  in  political  affiliation,  but  so  steeped  in  parti 
san  prejudice   and   rancor    that  they  have  no  loyalty  to  their 
chiefs  and   no  desire   for  their   success.      Civil   service  reform 
does  not  exact  this,  nor  does   it  require  that  those  in  subor 
dinate  positions  who  fail   in  yielding  their  best  service,  or  who 
are  incompetent,  should  be  retained  simply  because  they  are  in 
place.      The  whining  of  a  clerk  discharged   for  indolence  or 
mcompetency,  who,  though  he  gained  his  place  by  the  worst 
possible  operation  of  the  spoils  system,  suddenly  discovers  that 
he  is  entitled  to  protection  under  the  sanction  of  civil"  service 
reform,  represents  an  idea  no  less  absurd  than  the  clamor  of 
the  applicant  who  claims  the  vacant  position  as  his  compensa 
tion  for  the  most  questionable  party  work. 

The  civil  service  law  does  not  prevent  the  discharge  of  the 
indolent  or  incompetent  clerk,  but  it  does  prevent  supplying 
his  place  with  the  unfit  party  worker.  Thus,  in  both  these 
phases,  is  seen  benefit  to  the  public  service.  And  the  people 
who  desire  good  government,  having  secured  this  statute,  will 
not  relinquish  its  benefits  without  protest.  Nor  are 'they 
unmindful  of  the  .fact  that  its  full  advantages  can  only  be 
gained  through  the  complete  good  faith  of  those  having  its 
execution  in  charge.  And  this  they  will  insist  upon. 


VIII. 

Message  on   the   Report  of  the    Commission,  March  26,    1886. 

I  transmit  herewith  the  Report  of  the  Civil  Service  Commis 
sion  for  the  year  ended  on  the  i6th  day  of  January  last. 

The  exhibit  thus  made  of  the  operations  of  the  commission, 


CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM.  49 

and  the  account  thus  presented  of  the  results  following  the 
execution  of  the  civil  service  law,  cannot  fail  to  demonstrate 
its  usefulness  and  strengthen  the  conviction  that  this  scheme 
for  a  reform  in  the  methods  of  administering  the  government 
is  no  longer  an  experiment. 

Wherever  this  reform  has  gained  a  foothold,  it  has  steadily 
advanced  in  the  esteem  of  those  charged  with  public  adminis 
trative  duties,  while  the  people  who  desire  good  government 
have  constantly  been  confirmed  in  their  high  estimate  of  its 
value  and  efficiency. 

With  the  benefits  it  has  already  secured  to  the  public  service 
plainly  apparent,  and  with  its  promise  of  increased  usefulness 
easily  appreciated,  this  cause  is  commended  to  the  liberal  care 
and  jealous  protection  of  the  Congress. 


IX. 
Order  to  Heads  of  Departments. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
July  14,  1886. 

I  deem  this  a  proper  time  especially  to  warn  all  subordinates 
in  the  several  Departments,  and  all  office-holders  under  the 
general  government,  against  the  use  of  their  official  positions 
in  attempts  to  control  political  movements  in  their  localities. 

Office-holders  are  the  agents  of  the  people,-  not  their  masters. 
Not  only  are  their  time  and  labor  due  to  the  government,  but 
they  should  scrupulously  avoid,  in  their  political  action  as  well 
as  in  the  discharge  of  their  official  duty,  offending,  by  a  dis 
play  of  obtrusive  partisanship,  their  neighbors  who  have  rela 
tions  with  them  as  public  officials. 

They  should  also  constantly  remember  that  their  party 
friends,  from  whom  they  have  received  preferment,  have  not 
invested  them  with  the  power  of  arbitrarily  managing  their 
political  affairs.  They  have  no  right  as  office-holders  to  dic 
tate  the  political  action  of  their  party  associates,  or  to  throttle 


5°  CIVIL    SERVICE  REFORM. 

freedom  of  action  within  party  lines,  by  methods  and  practices 
which  pervert  every  useful  and  justifiable  purpose  of  party 
organization. 

The  influence  of  Federal  office-holders  should  not  be  felt  in 
the  manipulation  of  political  primary  meetings  and  nominating 
conventions.  The  use,  by  these  officials,  of  their  positions  to 
compass  their  selection  as  delegates  to  political  conventions  is 
indecent  and  unfair;  and  proper  regard  for  the  proprieties  and 
requirements  of  official  place  will  also  prevent  their  assuming 
the  active  conduct  of  political  campaigns. 

Individual  interest  and  activity  in  political  affairs  are  by  no 
means  condemned.  Office-holders  are  neither  disfranchised 
nor  forbidden  the  exercise  of  political  privileges;  but  their 
privileges  are  not  enlarged  nor  is  their  duty  to  party  increased 
to  pernicious  activity  by  office-holding. 

A  just  discrimination  in  this  regard,  between  the  things  a 
citizen  may  properly  do  and  the  purposes  for  which  a  public 
office  should  not  be  used,  is  easy  in  the  light  of  a  correct 
appreciation  of  the  relation  between  the  people  and  those 
intrusted  with  official  place,  and  a  consideration  of  the  neces 
sity  under  our  form  of  government  of  political  action  free  from 
official  coercion. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

X. 

Reasons  for  the  Removal  of    William  A.  Stone. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 

November  23,  1886. 
HON.   A.    H.   GARLAND,  Attorney-General: 

DEAR  SIR:  I  have  read  the  letter  of  the  i8th  instant  written 
to  you  by  William  A.  Stone,  lately  suspended  from  office  as 
district  attorney  for  the  western  district  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
the  subject  matter  to  which  it  refers  has  received  my  careful 
consideration. 

I  shall  not  impute  to  the  writer  any  mischievous  motive  in 


CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM.  51 

his  plainly  erroneous  assumption  that  his  case  and  that  of 
M.  E.  Benton,  recently  suspended  and  reinstated,  rest  upon 
the  same  state  of  facts,  but  prefer  to  regard  his  letter  as  con 
taining  the  best  statement  possible  upon  the  question  of  his 
reinstatement. 

You  remember,  of  course,  that  soon  after  the  present  admin 
istration  was  installed — and  I  think  nearly  a  year  and  a  half 
ago — I  considered  with  you  certain  charges  which  had  been 
preferred  against  Mr.  Stone  a's  a  Federal  official.  You  remem 
ber,  too,  that  the  action  we  then  contemplated  was  withheld  by 
reason  of  the  excuses  and  explanations  of  his  friends.  These 
excuses  and  explanations  induced  me  to  believe  that  Mr. 
Stone's  retention  would  insure  a  faithful  performance  of  official 
duty,  and  that  whatever  offensive  partisanship  he  had  deemed 
justifiable  in  other  circumstances,  he  would,  during  his  con 
tinuance  in  office,  at  his  request,  under  an  administration 
opposed  to  him  in  political  creed  and  policy,  content  himself 
with  a  quiet  and  unobtrusive  enjoyment  of  his  political  privi 
leges.  I  certainly  supposed  that  his  sense  of  propriety  would 
cause  him  to  refrain  from  pursuing  such  a  partisan  course  as 
would  wantonly  offend  and  irritate  the  friends  of  the  adminis 
tration  who  insisted  that  he  should  not  be  retained  in  office, 
either  because  of  his  personal  merit  or  in  adherence  to  the 
methods  which  for  a  long  time  had  prevailed  in  the  distribu 
tion  of  Federal  offices. 

In  the  light  of  a  better  system,  and  without  considering  his 
political  affiliations,  Mr.  Stone,  when  permitted  to  remain  in 
office,  became  a  part  of  the  business  organization  of  the  pres 
ent  administration — bound  by  every  obligation  of  honor  to 
assist  within  his  sphere  in  its  successful  operation.  This  obli 
gation  involved  not  only  the  proper  performance  of  official  duty, 
but  a  certain  good  faith  and  fidelity,  which,  while  not  exacting 
the  least  sacrifice  of  political  principle,  forbade  active  partici 
pation  in  purely  partisan  demonstrations  of  a  pronounced  type, 
undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  advancing  partisan  interests, 
and  conducted  upon  the  avowed  theory  that  the  administration 


52  CIVIL    SERVICE  REFORM. 

of   the  government    was  not    entitled  to    the  confidence    and 
respect  of  the  people. 

There  is  no  dispute  whatever  concerning  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Stone  did  join  others  who  were  campaigning  the  State  of  Penn 
sylvania  in  opposition  to  the  administration.  It  appears,  too, 
that  he  was  active  and  prominent,  with  noisy  enthusiasm,  in 
attendance  upon  at  least  two  large  public  meetings ;  that  the 
speeches  at  such  meetings  were  largely  devoted  to  abuse  and 
misrepresentation  of  the  administration ;  that  he  approved  all 
this  and  actually  addressed  the  meetings  himself  in  somewhat 
the  same  strain ;  that  he  attended  such  meetings  away  from 
his  home  for  the  purpose  of  making  such  addresses;  and  that 
he  was  advertised  as  one  of  the  speakers  at  each  of  said 
meetings. 

I  shall  accept  as  true  the  statement  of  Mr.  Stone  that  the 
time  spent  by  him  in  thus  demonstrating  his  willingness  to 
hold  a  profitable  office,  at  the  hands  of  an  administration  which 
he  endeavored  to  discredit  with  the  people,  and  which  had 
kindly  overlooked  his  previous  offenses,  did  not  result  in  the 
neglect  of  ordinary  official  duty.  But  his  conduct  has  brought 
to  light  such  an  unfriendliness  toward  the  administration  which 
he  pretends  to  serve  and  of  which  he  is  nominally  a  part,  and 
such  a  consequent  lack  of  loyal  interest  in  its  success,  that  the 
safest  and  surest  guarantee  of  his  faithful  service  is,  in  my 
opinion,  entirely  wanting.  His  course,  in  itself  such  as  should 
not  have  been  entered  upon  while  maintaining  official  relations 
to  the  administration,  also  renews  and  revives,  with  unmistak 
able  interpretation  of  their  character  and  intent,  the  charges  of 
offensive  partisanship  heretofore  made  and  up  to  this  time  held 
in  abeyance. 

Mr.  Stone  and  others  of  like  disposition  are  not  to  suppose 
that  party  lines  are  so  far  obliterated  that  the  administration  of 
the  government  is  to  be  trusted,  in  places  high  or  low,  to  those 
who  aggressively  and  constantly  endeavor,  unfairly,  to  destroy 
the  confidence  of  the  people  in  the  party  responsible  for  such 
administration.  While  vicious  partisan  methods  should  not 


CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM.  53 

be  allowed  for  partisan  purposes  to  degrade  or  injure  the  pub 
lic  service,  it  is  my  belief  that  nothing  tends  so  much  to  dis 
credit  our  efforts,  in  the  interest  of  such  service,  to  treat  fairly 
and  generously  the  official  incumbency  of  political  opponents, 
as  conduct  such  as  is  here  disclosed. 

The  people  of  this  country  certainly  do  not  require  the  best 
results  of  administrative  endeavor  to  be  reached  with  such 
agencies  as  these. 

Upon  a  full  consideration  of  all  I  have  before  me,  I  am  con 
strained  to  decline  the  application  of  Mr.  Stone  for  his  rein 
statement. 

I  inclose  his  letter  with  this,  and  desire  you  to  acquaint  him 

with  my  decision. 

Yours  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


From  Second  Annual  Message,  December  6,   1886. 

The  continued  operation  of  the  law  relating  to  our  civil 
service  has  added  the  most  convincing  proofs  of  its  necessity 
and  usefulness.  It  is  a  fact  worthy  of  note,  that  every  public 
officer  who  has  a  just  idea  of  his  duty  to  the  people  testifies  to 
the  value  of  this  reform.  Its  stanchest  friends  are  found 
among  those  who  understand  it  best,  and  its  warmest  support 
ers  are  those  who  are  restrained  and  protected  by  its  require 
ments. 

The  meaning  of  such  restraint  and  protection  is  not  appre 
ciated  by  those  who  want  places  under  the  government, 
regardless  of  merit  and  efficiency,  nor  by  those  who  insist  that 
the  selection  for  such  places  should  rest  upon  a  proper  creden 
tial  showing  active  partisan  work.  They  mean  to  public  offi 
cers,  if  not  their  lives,  the  only  opportunity  afforded  them  to 
attend  to  public  business,  and  they  mean  to  the  good  people 
of  the  country  the  better  performance  of  the  work  of  their 
government. 


54  CIVIL   SERVICE  REI-OKM. 

It  is  exceedingly  strange  that  the  scope  and  nature  of  this 
reform  are  so  little  understood,  and  that  so  many  things  not 
included  within  its  plan  are  called  by  its  name.  When  cavil 
yields  more  fully  to  examination,  the  system  will  have  large 
additions  to  the  number  of  its  friends. 

Our  civil  service  reform  may  be  imperfect  in  some  of  its 
details;  it  may  be  misunderstood  and  opposed;  it  may  not 
always  be  faithfully  applied;  its  designs  may  sometimes  mis 
carry  through  mistake  or  willful  intent;  it  may  sometimes 
tremble  under  the  assaults  of  its  enemies,  or  languish  under  the 
misguided  zeal  of  impracticable  friends ;  but  if  the  people  of 
this  country  ever  submit  to  the  banishment  of  its  underlying 
principle  from  the  operation  of  their  government,  they  will 
abandon  the  surest  guarantee  of  the  safety  and  success  of 
American  institutions. 

I  invoke  for  this  reform  the  cheerful  and  ungrudging  support 
of  the  Congress. 


XII. 

Order  for  Uniform  Classification  in  the  Departments. 

To  THE  UNITED  STATES  CIVIL  SERVICE  COMMISSION: 

GENTLEMEN:  1  desire  to  make  a  suggestion  regarding  Sub 
division  C,  General  Rule  3,  of  the  amended  Civil  Service  Rules 
promulgated  February  2,  1888.  It  provides  for  the  promotion 
of  an  employee,  in  a  Department,  who  is  below  or  outside  of  the 
classified  service,  to  a  place  within  said  classified  service  in  the 
same  Department  upon  the  request  of  the  appointing  officer, 
upon  the  recommendation  of  the  commission  and  the  approval 
of  the  President,  after  a  non-competitive  examination,  in  case 
such  person  has  served  continuously  for  two  years  in  the  place 
from  which  it  is  proposed  to  promote  him,  and  "because  of 
his  faithfulness  and  efficiency  in  the  position  occupied  by  him," 
and  "because  of  his  qualifications  for  the  place  to  which  the 
appointing  officer  desires  his  promotion." 


CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM.  55 

It  has  occurred  to  me  that  this  provision  must  be  executed 
with  caution,  to  avoid  the  application  of  it  to  cases  not  intended 
and  the  undue  relaxation  of  the  general  purposes  and  restric 
tions  of  the  civil  service  law. 

Non-competitive  examinations  are  the  exceptions  to  the  plan 
of  the  Act,  and  the  rules  permitting  the  same  should  be  strictly 
construed.  The  cases  arising  under  the  exception,  above 
recited,  should  be  very  few,  and  when  presented  they  should 
precisely  meet  all  the  requirements  specified,  and  should  be 
supported  by  facts  which  will  develop  the  basis  and  reason  of 
the  application  of  the  appointing  officer,  and  which  will  com 
mend  them  to  the  judgment  of  the  commission  and  the  Presi 
dent.  The  sole  purpose  of  the  provision  is  to  benefit  the  pub 
lic  service,  and  it  should  never  be  permitted  to  operate  as  an 
evasion  of  the  main  feature  of  the  law,  which  is  competitive 
examinations. 

As  these  cases  will  first  be  presented  to  the  commission  for 
recommendation,  I  have  to  request  that  you  will  formulate  a 
plan  by  which  their  merits  can  be  tested.  This  will  naturally 
involve  a  statement  of  all  the  facts  deemed  necessary  for  the 
determination  of  such  applications,  including  the  kind  of  work 
which  has  been  done  by  the  person  proposed  for  promotion, 
and  the  considerations  upon  which  the  allegations  of  the  faith 
fulness,  efficiency,  and  qualifications  mentioned  in  the  rule  are 
predicated. 

What  has  already  been  written  naturally  suggests  another 
very  important  subject,  to  which  I  will  invite  your  atten 
tion. 

The  desirability  of  the  rule  which  I  have  commented  upon 
would  be  nearly,  if  not  entirely,  removed,  and  other  difficulties 
which  now  embarrass  the  execution  of  the  civil  service  law 
would  be  obviated,  if  there  was  a  better  and  uniform  classifica 
tion  of  the  employees  in  the  different  Departments.  The 
importance  of  this  is  entirely  obvious.  The  present  imperfect 
classifications,  hastily  made,  apparently  with  but  little  care  for 
uniformity,  and  promulgated  after  the  last  Presidential  election 


56  CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM. 

and  prior  to    the  installation    of  the    present  administration, 
should  not  have  been  permitted  to  continue  to  this  time. 

It  appears  that  in  the  War  Department  the  employees  were 
divided  on  the  i9th  day  of  November,  1884,  into  eight  classes 
and  sub-classes,  embracing  those  earning  annual  salaries  from 

$900  tO  $2000. 

The  Navy  Department  was  classified  November  22,  1884, 
and  its  employees  were  divided  into  seven  classes  and  sub 
classes,  embracing  those  who  received  annual  salaries  from 

$720  to  $1800. 

In  the  Interior  Department  the  classification  was  made  on 
the  6th  day  of  December,  1884.  It  consists  of  eight  classes 
and  sub-classes,  and  embraces  employees  receiving  annual 
salaries  from  $720  to  $2000. 

On  the  2d  day  of  January,  1885,  a  classification  of  the 
employees  in  the  Treasury  Department  was  made,  consisting  of 
six  classes  and  sub-classes;  including  those  earning  annual  sal 
aries  from  $900  to  $1800. 

In  the  Post  Office  Department  the  employees  were  classi 
fied  on  February  6,  1885,  into  nine  classes  and  sub-classes, 
embracing  persons  earning  annual  salaries  from  $720  to 

$2000. 

On  the  1 2th  of  December,  1884,  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture 
was  classified  in  a  manner  different  from  all  the  other  Depart- 
ments  and  presenting  features  peculiar  to  itself. 

It  seems  that  the  only  classification  in  the  Department  of 
State  and  the  Department  of  Justice  is  that  provided  for  by 
section  163  of  the  Revised  Statutes,  which  directs  that  the 
employees  in  the  several  Departments  shall  be  divided  into  four 
classes.  It  appears  that  no  more  definite  classification  has 
been  made  in  these  Departments. 

I  wish  the  commission  would  revise  these  classifications  and 
submit  to  me  a  plan  which  will,  as  far  as  possible,  make  them 
uniform,  and  which  will  especially  remedy  the  present  condi 
tion  which  permits  persons  to  enter  a  grade  in  the  service  in 
one  Department  without  any  examination,  which  in  another 


CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM.  57 

Department  can  only  be  entered  after  passing  such  examina 
tion.  This,  I  think,  should  be  done  by  extending  the  limits 
of  the  classified  service  rather  than  by  contracting  them. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
March  21,  1888. 

XIII. 

Message   Transmitting  Report  of  the  Civil  Service  Commission. 

To  THE. CONGRESS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES: 

Pursuant  to  the  second  section  of  Chapter  XXVII  of  the 
laws  of  1883,  entitled  "An  Act  to  regulate  and  improve  the 
civil  service  of  the  United  States,"  I  herewith  transmit  the 
fourth  report  of  the  United  States  Civil  Service  Commission, 
covering  the  period  between  the  i6th  day  of  January,  1886, 
and  the  ist  day  of  July,  1887. 

While  this  report  has  especial  reference  to  the  operations  of 
the  commission  during  the  period  above  mentioned,  it  contains, 
with  its  accompanying  appendices,  much  valuable  information 
concerning  the  inception  of  civil  service  reform  and  its  growth 
and  progress,  which  cannot  fail  to  be  interesting  and  instructive 
to  all  who  desire  improvement  in  administrative  methods. 

During  the  time  covered  by  the  report  fifteen  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  fifty-two  persons  were  examined  for  admis 
sion  in  the  classified  civil  service  of  the  government  in  all  its 
branches ;  of  whom  ten  thousand  seven  hundred  and  forty-six 
passed  the  examination,  and  five  thousand  one  hundred  and 
six  failed.  Of  those  who  passed  the  examination,  two  thou 
sand  nine  hundred  and  twenty-seven  were  applicants  for  admis 
sion  to  the  departmental  service  at  Washington,  twenty-five 
hundred  and  forty-seven  were  examined  for' admission  to  the 
customs  service,  and  five  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  for  admission  to  the  postal  service.  During  the  same 
period  five  hundred  and  forty-seven  appointments  were  made 
from  the  eligible  list  to  the  departmental  service,  six  hundred 


58  CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM. 

and  forty-one  to  the  customs  service,  and  three  thousand  two 
hundred  and  fifty-four  to  the  postal  service. 

Concerning  separations  from  the  classified  service,  the 
report  only  informs  us  of  such  as  have  occurred  among 
employees  in  the  public  service  who  had  been  appointed  from 
eligible  lists  under  civil  service  rules.  When  these  rules  took 
effect  they  did  not  apply  to  the  persons  then  in  the  service, 
comprising  a  full  complement  of  employees  who  obtained  their 
positions  independently  of  the  new  law.  The  commission 
has  no  record  of  the  separations  in  this  numerous  class ;  and 
the  discrepancy  apparent  in  the  report  between  the  number  of 
appointments  made  in  the  respective  branches  of  the  service 
from  the  lists  of  the  commission,  and  the  small  number  of 
separations  mentioned,  is,  to  a  great  extent,  accounted  for  by 
vacancies— of  which  no  report  was  made  to  the  commission- 
occurring  among  those  who  held  their  places  without  examina 
tion  and  certification,  which  vacancies  were  filled  by  appoint 
ment  from  the  eligible  lists. 

In  the  departmental  service  there  occurred  between  the  i6th 
day  of  January,  1886,  and  the  3oth  day  of  June,  1887,  among 
the  employees  appointed  from  the  eligible  lists  under  civil  serv 
ice  rules,  seventeen  removals,  thirty-six  resignations,  and  five 
deaths.  This  does  not  include  fourteen  separations  in  the 
grade  of  special  pension  examiners,  four  by  removal,  five  by 
resignation,  and  five  by  death. 

In  the  classified  customs  and  postal  service  the  number  of 
separations  among  those  who  received  absolute  appointments 
under  civil  service  rules  is  given  for  the  period  between  the 
ist  day  of  January,  1886,  and  the  3oth  day  of  June,  1887. 
It  appears  that  such  separations  in  the  customs  service  for  the 
time  mentioned  embraced  twenty-one  removals,  five  deaths, 
and  eighteen  resignations,  and  in  the  postal  service  two  hun 
dred  and  fifty-six  removals,  twenty-three  deaths,  and  four 
hundred  and  sixty-nine  resignations. 

More  than  a  year  has  passed  since    the    expiration   of  the 


CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM.  59 

period  covered  by  the  report  of  the  commission.  Within  the 
time  which  has  thus  elapsed  many  important  changes  have 
taken  place  in  furtherance  of  a  reform  in  our  civil  service. 
The  rules  and  regulations  governing  the  execution  of  the  law 
upon  the  subject  have  been  completely  remodeled,  in  such 
manner  as  to  render  the  enforcement  of  the  statute  more 
effective  and  greatly  increase  its  usefulness. 

Among  other  things  the  scope  of  the  examinations  prescribed 
for  those  who  seek  to  enter  the  classified  service  has  been 
better  defined  and  made  more  practical,  the  number  of  names 
to  be  certified  from  the  eligible  lists  to  the  appointing  officers 
from  which  a  selection  is  made  has  been  reduced  from  four  to 
three,  the  maximum  limitation  of  the  age  of  persons  seeking 
entrance  to  the  classified  service  to  forty-five  years  has  been 
changed,  and  reasonable  provision  has  been  made  for  the 
transfer  of  employees  from  one  Department  to  another  in  proper 
cases.  A  plan  has  also  been  devised  providing  for  the  exam 
ination  of  applicants  for  promotion  in  the  service,  which,  when 
in  full  operation,  will  eliminate  all  chance  of  favoritism  in  the 
advancement  of  employees,  by  making  promotion  a  reward  of 
merit  and  faithful  discharge  of  duty. 

Until  within  a  few  weeks  there  was  no  uniform  classifi 
cation  of  employees  in  the  different  executive  Departments 
of  the  government.  As  a  result  of  this  condition,  in  some 
of  the  Departments  positions  could  be  obtained  without  civil 
service  examination,  because  they  were  not  within  the  class 
ification  of  such  Department,  while  in  other  Departments  an 
examination  and  certification  were  necessary  to  obtain  pos 
itions  of  the  same  grade,  because  such  positions  were 
embraced  in  the  classifications  applicable  to  those  Depart 
ments. 

The  exemption  of  laborers,  watchmen,  and  messengers 
from  examination  and  classification  gave  opportunity,  in  the  ab 
sence  of  any  rule  guarding  against  it,  for  tl»e  employment, 
free  from  civil  service  restrictions,  of  persons  under  these 


60  CIVIL    SERVICE  REFORM. 

designations    who    were    immediately    detailed    to    do   clerical 
work. 

All  this  has  been  obviated  by  the  application  to  all  the 
Departments  of  an  extended  and  uniform  classification,  embrac 
ing  grades  of  employees  not  theretofore  included,  and  by  the 
adoption  of  a  rule  prohibiting  the  detail  of  laborers,  watch 
men,  or  messengers  to  clerical  duty. 

The  path  of  civil  service  reform  has  not  at  all  times  been 
pleasant  or  easy.  The  scope  and  purpose  of  the  reform  have 
been  much  misapprehended;  and  this  has  not  only  given  rise 
to  strong  opposition,  but  has  led  to  its  invocation  by  its  friends 
to  compass  objects  not  in  the  least  related  to  it.  Thus  parti 
sans  of  the  patronage  system  have  naturally  condemned  it. 
Those  who  do  not  understand  its  meaning  either  mistrust  it, 
or,  when  disappointed  because  in  its  present  stage  it  is  not 
applied  to  every  real  or  imaginary  ill,  accuse  those  charged 
with  its  enforcement  with  faithlessness  to  civil  service  reform. 
Its  importance  has  frequently  been  underestimated ;  and  the 
support  of  good  men  has  thus  been  lost  by  their  lack  of  inter 
est  in  its  success.  Besides  all  these  difficulties,  those  respon 
sible  for  the  administration  of  the  government  in  its  executive 
branches  have  been,  and  still  are,  often  annoyed  and  irritated 
by  the  disloyalty  to  the  service  and  the  insolence  of  employees 
who  remain  in  place  as  the  beneficiaries  and  the  relics  and 
reminders  of  the  vicious  system  of  appointment  which  civil 
service  reform  was  intended  to  displace. 

And  yet  these  are  but  the  incidents  of  an  advance  move 
ment,  which  is  radical  and  far-reaching.  The  people  are,  not 
withstanding,  to  be  congratulated  upon  the  progress  which  has 
been  made,  and  upon  the  firm,  practical,  and  sensible  founda 
tion  upon  which  this  reform  now  rests. 

With  a  continuation  of  the  intelligent  fidelity  which  has 
hitherto  characterized  the  work  of  the  commission;  with  a 
continuation  arid  increase  of  the  favor  and  liberality  which 
have  lately  been  evinced  by  the  Congress  in  the  proper  equip 
ment  of  the  commission  for  its  work;  with  a  firm  but  conserv- 


CIVIL   SERVICE  REFORM.  6l 

ative  and  reasonable  support  of  the  reform  by  all  its  friends, 
and  with  the  disappearance  of  opposition  which  must  inevitably 
follow  its  better  understanding,  the  execution  of  the  civil  serv 
ice  law  cannot  fail  ultimately  to  answer  the  hopes  in  which 
it  had  its  origin. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  July  23,  1888. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TAXATION    AND    REVENUE. 
I. 

First  Message  to  the  New  York  Legislature,  January  2,  1883. 

THE  power  of  the  State  to  exact  from  the  citizen  a  part  of 
his  earnings  and  income  for  the  support  of  the  government,  it 
is  obvious,  should  he  exercised  with  absolute  fairness  and  jus- 
tice.  When  it  is  not  so  exercised,  the  people  are  oppressed. 
This  furnishes  the  highest  and  the  best  reason  why  lawsshould 
be  enacted  and  executed  which  will  subject  all  property— as  all 
alike  need  the  protection  of  the  State— to  an  equal  share  in  the 
burdens  of  taxation,  by  means  of  which  the  government  is 
maintained.  And  yet  it  is  notoriously  true  that  personal  prop 
erty,  not  less  remunerative  than  land  and  real  estate,  escapes  to 
a  very  great  extent  the  payment  of  its  fair  proportion  of  the 
expense  incident  to  its  protection  and  preservation  under  the 
law.  The  people  should  always  be  able  to  recognize,  with  the 
pride  and  satisfaction  which  are  the  strength  of  our  institutions, 
in  the  conduct  of  the  State,  the  source  of  undiscriminating 
justice,  which  can  give  no  pretext  for  discontent. 

Let  us  enter  upon  the  discharge  of  our  duties,  fully  appre 
ciating  our  relations  to  the  people,  and  determined  to  serve 
them  faithfully  and  well.  This  involves  a  jealous  watch  of  the 
public  funds,  and  a  refusal  to  sanction  their  appropriation  ex 
cept  for  public  needs.  To  this  end  all  unnecessary  offices 
should  be  abolished,  and  all  employment  of  doubtful  benefit 
discontinued.  If  to  this  we  add  the  enactment  of  such  wise 
and  well-considered  laws  as  will  meet  the  varied  wants  of  our 


TAXATION  AND  REVENUE,  63 

fellow-citizens  and  increase  their  prosperity,  we  shall  merit  and 
receive  the  approval  of  those  whose  representatives  we  are, 
and,  with  the  consciousness  of  duty  well  performed,  shall  leave 
our  impress  for  good  on  the  legislation  of  the  State. 


II. 

Interview  in  the  New  York  Herald,  December  10,  1883. 

If  Congress,  at  its  present  session,  shall  fail  to  reduce  the 
revenues,  now  admitted  to  be  larger  than  necessary,  I  have  no 
doubt  that  the  question  will  become  an  important  issue  in  the 
Presidential  election  of  next  year,  and  that  the  election  of 
Mr.  Carlisle  to  the  Speakership  will  tend  to  commit  the  Demo 
cratic  party  to  advocate  such  a  revision  of  the  revenue  laws  as 
will  secure  a  reduction  of  excessive  revenue,  by  removing  or 
lessening  such  duties  as  increase  the  cost  of  the  necessaries  of 
life  rather  than  those  which  enhance  the  price  of  luxuries. 


III. 

Second  Message  to  the  New  York  Legislature,  January  i,  1884. 

The  subject  of  taxation  still  remains  a  vexed  question  ;  and 
the  injustice  and  discrimination  apparent  in  our  laws  on  this 
subject,  as  well  as  the  methods  of  their  execution,  call  loudly 
for  relief.  There  is  no  object  so  worthy  of  the  care  and  at 
tention  of  the  Legislature  as  this.  Strict  economy  in  the  man- 
agement  of  State  affairs  by  their  agents  should  furnish  the 
people  a  good  government  at  the  least  possible  cost.  This  is 
common  honesty.  But,  to  see  to  it  that  this  cost  is  fairly  and 
justly  distributed,  and  the  burden  equally  borne  by  those  who 
have  no  peaceful  redress  if  the  State  is  unjust,  is  the  best  at 
tribute  of  sovereignty  and  the  highest  duty  to  the  citizen. 
The  recognition  of  this  duty  characterizes  a  beneficent  gov- 


64  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

ernment ;  but  its  repudiation  marks  the  oppression  of  tyran 
nical  power.  The  taxpayer  need  not  wait  till  his  burden  is 
greater  than  he  can  bear,  for  just  cause  of  complaint.  How 
ever  small  his  tax,  he  may  reasonably  protest  if  it  represents 
more  than  his  share  of  the  public  burden,  and  the  State  neg 
lects  all  efforts  to  apply  a  remedy. 

The  tendency  of  our  prosperity  is  in  the  direction  of  the  ac 
cumulation  of  immense  fortunes,  largely  invested  in  personal 
property  ;  and  yet  its  aggregate  valuation,  as  fixed  for  the 
purpose  of  taxation,  is  constantly  decreased,  while  that  of  real 
estate  is  increased.  For  the  year  1882,  the  valuation  of  per 
sonal  property  subject  to  taxation  was  determined  at  $351,021,- 
i89,'and  real  estate  at  $2,432,661,379.  In  1883  the  assessed 
valuation  of  personal  property  was  fixed  at  $315,039,085,  and 
real  estate $2,557, 218,240. 

The  present  law  permits,  in  the  case  of  personal  property,  the 
indebtedness  of  its  possessor  to  be  deducted  from  its  value, 
and  allows  no  such  deduction  in  favor  of  real  estate,  though  it 
be  represented  by  a  mortgage  which  is  a  specific  lien  upon 
such  real  estate.  Personal  property,  in  need  more  than  any 
other  of  the  protection  of  the  government,  when  discovered, 
escapes  taxation  to  the  extent  of  its  owner's  indebtedness, 
though  such  indebtedness  is  based  upon  the  ordinary  credit  in 
the  transaction  of  business,  or  is  fictitious,  and  manufactured 
for  the  temporary  purpose  of  evading  taxation.  But  real 
property,  the  existence  of  which  cannot  be  concealed,  is,  in 
contemplation  of  the  law,  taxed  according  to  its  full  valuation, 
thougruhe  incumbrance  upon  it  easily  divests  the  owner  of  his 
title,  though  the  interest  and  perhaps  part  of  the  principal 
must,  as  well  as  the  tax,  annually  be  met,  and  though,  if  sold, 
the  amount  due  upon  this  lien  must  always  be  deducted  from 
any  sum  agreed  upon  as  the  price  of  the  land. 

This  statement  does  not  necessarily  lead  to  a  deduction  of 
the  amount  of  any  incumbrance  upon  real  estate  from  its  valu 
ation  for  the  purpose  of  taxation  ;  but  it  does  suggest  that 
both  real  and  personal  property  should  be  placed  upon  the 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE,  65 

same  footing,  by  abolishing,  in  all  cases,  any  deduction  for 
debts.  This  amendment,  with  some  others  regulating  the 
manner  in  which  local  assessors  should  perform  their  duties, 
would  do  much  toward  ridding  our  present  system  of  its  im 
perfections. 

If  measures  more  radical  in  their  nature,  having  for  their 
object  the  exaction  of  taxes  which  are  justly  due,  should  be 
deemed  wise,  I  hope  their  passage  will  not  be  prevented  under 
the  specious  pretext  that  the  means  proposed  are  inquisitorial 
and  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  institutions.  The  object  is  to 
preserve  the  honor  of  the  State  in  its  dealings  with  the  citizen, 
to  prevent  the  rich,  by  shirking  taxation,  from  adding  to  the 
burdens  of  the  poor,  and  to  relieve  the  landholder  from  unjust 
discrimination.  The  spirit  of  our  institutions  dictates  that  this 
endeavor  should  be  pursued,  in  a  manner  free  from  all  dema- 
gogism,  but  with  the  determination  to  use  every  necessary 
means  to  accomplish  the  result. 

The  State  of  New  York  largely  represents  within  her  borders 
the  development  of  every  interest  which  makes  a  nation  great. 
Proud  of  her  place  as  leader  in  the  community  of  States,  she 
fully  appreciates  her  immediate  relations  to  the  prosperity  of 
the  country  ;  and,  justly  realizing  the  responsibility  of  her 
position,  she  recognizes,  in  her  policy  and  her  laws,  as  of  first 
importance,  the  freedom  of  commerce  from  all  unnecessary 
restrictions.  Her  citizens  have  assumed  the  burden  of  main 
taining,  at  their  own  cost  and  free  to  commerce,  the  waterway 
which  they  have  built,  and  through  which  the  products  of  the 
great  West  are  transported  to  the  seaboard.  At  the  suggestion 
of  danger  she  hastens  to  save  her  northern  forests,  and  thus 
preserve  to  commerce  her  canals  and  vessel-laden  rivers.  The 
State  has  become  responsible  for  a  bureau  of  immigration, 
which  cares  for  those  who  seek  our  shores  from  other  lands, 
adding  to  the  nation's  population  and  hastening  to  the  develop 
ment  of  its  vast  domain  ;  while  at  the  country's  gateway  a  quar 
antine,  established  by  the  State,  protects  the  nation's  health. 


66  TAXATION  AND    KK VENUE. 

Surely  this  great  commonwealth,  committed  fully  to  the 
interests  of  commerce  and  all  that  adds  to  the  country's  pros 
perity,  may  well  inquire  how  her  efforts  and  sacrifices  have 
been  answered  ;  and  she,  of  all  the  States,  may  urge  that  the 
interests  thus  by  her  protected,  should,  by  the  greater  govern 
ment  administered  for  all,  be  fostered  for  the  benefit  of  the 
American  people. 

Fifty  years  ago  a  most  distinguished  foreigner,  who  visited 
this  country  and  studied  its  condition  and  prospects,  wrote  : 

When  I  contemplate  the  ardor  with  which  the  Americans  prosecute  com 
merce,  the  advantages  which  aid  them,  and  the  success  of  their  undertakings, 
I  cannot  help  believing  that  they  will  one  day  become  the  first  maritime 
power  of  the  globe.  They  are  bound  to  rule  the  seas,  as  the  Romans  were 
to  conquer  the  world.  .  .  .  The  Americans  themselves  now  transport 
to  their  own  shores  nine-tenths  of  the  European  produce  which  they  consume, 
and  they  also  bring  three-fourths  of  the  exports  of  the  New  World  to  the 
European  consumer.  The  ships  of  the  United  States  fill  the  docks  of  Havre 
and  Liverpool,  while  the  number  of  English  and  French  vessels  which  are  to 
be  seen  at  New  York  is  comparatively  small. 

We  turn  to  the  actual  results  reached  since  these  words  were 
written,  with  disappointment. 

In  1840  American  vessels  carried  eighty-two  and  nine-tenths 
per  cent,  of  all  our  exports  and  imports  ;  in  1859,  seventy-two 
and  five-tenths;  in  1860,  sixty-six  and  five-tenths;  in  1870, 
thirty-five  and  six-tenths  ;  in  1880,  seventeen  and  four-tenths;' 
in  1882,  fifteen  and  five-tenths. 

The  citizen  of  New  York,  looking  beyond  his  State  and  all 
her  efforts  in  the  interest  of  commerce  and  national  growth, 
will  naturally  inquire  concerning  the  causes  of  this  decadence 
of  American  shipping. 

^  While  he  sternly  demands  of  his  own  government  the  exact 
limitation  of  taxation  by  the  needs  of  the  State,  he  will  chal 
lenge  the  policy  that  accumulates  millions  of  useless  and  un 
necessary  surplus  in  the  national  treasury,  which  has  been  not 
less  a  tax  because  it  was  indirectly  and  surely  added  to  the 
cost  of  the  people's  life. 


TAXATION  AND   REV  EN  UK.  7 

Let  us  anticipate  a  time  when  care  for  the  people's  needs,  as 
they  actually  arise,  and  the  application  of  remedies,  as  wrongs 
appear,  shall  lead  in  the  conduct  of  national  affairs  ;  and  let 
us  undertake  the  business  of  legislation  with  the  full  determi 
nation  that  these  principles  shall  guide  us  in  the  performance 
of  our  duties  as  guardians  of  the  interests  of  the  state. 


IV. 
From  the  First  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December,  1885. 

The  fact  that  our  revenues  are  in  excess  of  the  actual  needs 
of  an  economical  administration  of  the  government  justifies  a 
reduction  in  the  amount  exacted  from  the  people  for  its 
support.  Our  government  is  but  the  means,  established  by 
the  will  of  a  free  people,  by  which  certain  principles  are  ap 
plied  which  they  have  adopted  for  their  benefit  and  protec 
tion  ;  and  it  is  never  better  administered,  and  its  true  spirit  is 
never  better  observed,  than  when  the  people's  taxation  for  its 
support  is  scrupulously  limited  to  the  actual  necessity  of  ex 
penditure,  and  distributed  according  to  a  just  and  equitable 
plan. 

The  proposition  with  which  we  have  to  deal  is  the  reduc 
tion  of  the  revenue  received  by  the  government,  and  indirectly 
paid  by  the  people  from  customs  duties.  The  question  of  free 
trade  is  not  involved,  nor  is  there  now  any  occasion  for  the 
general  discussion  of  the  wisdom  or  expediency  of  a  protec 
tive  system. 

Justice  and  fairness  dictate  that,  in  any  modification  of  our 
present  laws  relating  to  revenue,  the  industries  and  interests 
which  have  been  encouraged  by  such  laws,  and  in  which  our 
citizens  have  large  investments,  should  not  be  ruthlessly  in 
jured  or  destroyed.  We  should  also  deal  with  the  subject  in 
such  manner  as  to  protect  the  interests  of  American  labor, 
which  is  the  capital  of  our  workingmen  ;  its  stability  and 


68  TAXATION  AND   KE VENUE. 

proper  remuneration  furnish  the  most  justifiable  pretext  for  a 
proteetive  policy. 

Within  these  limitations  a  certain  reduction  should  be  made 
in  our  customs  revenue.  The  amount  of  such  reduction  hav 
ing  been  determined,  the  inquiry  follows— where  can  it  best 
be  remitted,  and  what  articles  can  best  be  released  from  duty 
in  the  interest  of  our  citizens  ? 

I  think  the  reduction  should  be  made  in  the  revenue  de 
rived  from  a  tax  upon  the  imported  necessaries  of  life.  We 
thus  directly  lessen  the  cost  of  living  in  every  family  of  the 
land,  and  release  to  the  people  in  every  humble  home  a  larger 
measure  of  the  rewards  of  frugal  industry. 


V. 

From  the  Second  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December,  1886. 

The  income  of  the  government,  by  its  increased  volume  and 
through  economies  in  its  collection,  is  now  more  than  ever  in 
excess  of  public  necessities.  The  application  of  the  surplus  to 
the  payment  of  such  portion  of  the  public  debt  as  is  now  at 
our  option  subject  to  extinguishment,  if  continued  at  the  rate 
which  has  lately  prevailed,  would  retire  that  class  of  indebted 
ness  within  less  than  one  year  from  this  date.  Thus  a  con 
tinuation  of  our  present  revenue  system  would  soon  result  in 
the  receipt  of  an  annual  income  much  greater  than  necessary 
to  meet  government  expenses,  with  no  indebtedness  upon 
which  it  could  be  applied.  We  should  then  be  confronted 
with  a  vast  quantity  of  money,  the  circulating  medium  of  the 
people,  hoarded  in  the  treasury  when  it  should  be  in  their 
hands,  or  we  should  be  drawn  into  wasteful  public  extravagance 
with  all  the  corrupting  national  demoralization  which  follows 
in  its  train. 

But  it  is  not  the  simple  existence  of  this  surplus,  and  its 
threatened  attendant  evils,  which  furnish  the  strongest  argu 
ment  against  our  present  scale  of  Federal  taxation.  Its 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  69 

worst  phase  is  the  exaction  of  such  a  surplus  through  a  per 
version  of  the  relations  between  the  people  and  their  govern 
ment,  and  a  dangerous  departure  from  the  rules  which  limit 
the  right  of  Federal  taxation. 

The  indirect  manner  in  which  these  exactions  are  made 
has  a  tendency  to  conceal  their  true  character  and  their  ex 
tent.  But  we  have  arrived  at  a  stage  of  superfluous  revenue 
which  has  aroused  the  people  to  a  realization  of  the  fact  that 
the  amount  raised,  professedly  for  the  support  of  the  govern 
ment,  is  paid  by  them  as  absolutely,  if  added  to  the  price  of 
the  things  which  supply  their  daily  wants,  as  if  it  was  paid  at 
fixed  periods  into  the  hand  of  the  tax-gatherer. 

Those  who  toil  for  daily  wages  are  beginning  to  understand 
that  capital,  though  sometimes  vaunting  its  importance  and 
clamoring  for  the  protection  and  favor  of  the  government,  is 
dull  and  sluggish,  till,  touched  by  the  magical  hand  of  labor, 
it  springs  into  activity,  furnishing  an  occasion  for  Federal 
taxation  and  gaining  the  value  which  enables  it  to  bear  its 
burden.  And  the  laboring  man  is  thoughtfully  inquiring 
whether,  in  these  circumstances  and  considering  the  tribute 
he  constantly  pays  into  the  public  treasury  as  he  supplies 
his  daily  wants,  he  receives  his  fair  share  of  advantage. 

There  is  also  a  suspicion  abroad  that  the  surplus  of  our 
revenues  indicates  abnormal  and  exceptional  business  profits, 
which,  under  the  system  which  produces  such  surplus,  increase, 
without  corresponding  benefit  to  the  people  at  large,  the  vast 
accumulations  of  a  few  among  our  citizens  whose  fortunes, 
rivaling  the  wealth  of  the  most  favored  in  anti-democratic 
nations,  are  not  the  natural  growth  of  a  steady,  plain,  and  in 
dustrious  republic. 

Our  farmers,  too,  and  those  engaged  directly  and  indirectly 
in  supplying  the  products  of  agriculture,  see  that,  day  by  day, 
and  as  often  as  the  daily  wants  of  their  households  recur, 
they  are  forced  to  pay  excessive  and  needless  taxation,  while 
their  products  struggle  in  foreign  markets  with  the  competi 
tion  of  nations  which,  by  allowing  a  freer  exchange  of  pro- 


7°  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

ductions  than  we  permit,  enable  their  people  to  sell  for  prices 
which  distress  the  American  farmer.  A  sentiment  prevails 
that  the  leading-strings,  useful  to  a  nation  in  its  infancy, 
may  well  be,  to  a  great  extent,  discarded  in  the  present  stage 
of  American  ingenuity,  courage,  and  fearless  self-reliance. 
And,  for  the  privilege  of  indulging  this  sentiment  with  true 
American  enthusiasm,  our  citizens  are  quite  willing  to  forego 
an  idle  surplus. in  the  public  treasury. 

And  all  the  people  know  that  the  average  rate  of  Federal 
taxation  upon  imports  is,  to-day,  in  time  of  peace,  but  little 
less,  while,  upon  some  articles  of  necessary  consumption,  it  is 
actually  more,  than  was  imposed  by  the  grievous  burden 
willingly  borne  at  a  time  when  the  government  needed  mil 
lions  to  maintain  by  war  the  safety  and  integrity  of  the 
Union. 

It  has  been  the  policy  of  the  government  to  collect  the 
principal  part  of  its  revenues  by  a  tax  upon  imports,  and  no 
change  in  this  policy  is  desirable.  Ikit  the  present  condition 
of  affairs  constrains  our  people  to  demand  that,  by  a  revision 
of  our  revenue  laws,  the  receipts  of  the  government  shall  be 
reduced  to  the  necessary  expense  of  its  economical  adminis 
tration  ;  and  this  demand  should  be  recognized  and  obeyed 
by  the  people's  representatives  in  the  legislative  branch  of  the 
government. 

In  readjusting  the  burdens  of  Federal  taxation,  a  sound 
public  policy  requires  that  such  of  our  citizens  as  have  built 
up  large  and  important  industries  Under  present  conditions 
should  not  be  suddenly,  and  to  their  injury,  deprived  of  ad 
vantages  to  which  they  have  adapted  their  business  ;  but,  if 
the  public  good  requires  it,  they  should  be  content  with  such 
consideration  as  shall  deal  fairly  and  cautiously  with  their 
interests,  while  the  just  demand  of  the  people  for  relief 'from 
needless  taxation  is  honestly  answered. 

A  reasonable  and  timely  submission  to  such  a  demand 
should  certainly  be  possible  without  disastrous  shock  to  any 
interest  ;  and  a  cheerful  concession  sometimes  averts  abrupt 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  71 

and  heedless  action,  often  the  outgrowth  of  impatience  and 
delayed  justice. 

Due  regard  should  also  be  accorded,  in  any  proposed  read 
justment,  to  the  interests  of  American  labor  so  far  as  they  are 
involved.  We  congratulate  ourselves  that  there  is  among  us 
no  laboring  class,  fixed  within  unyielding  bounds  and  doomed, 
under  all  conditions,  to  the  inexorable  fate  of  daily  toil.  We 
recognize  in  labor  a  chief  factor  in  the  wealth  of  the  repub 
lic  ;  and  we  treat  those  who  have  it  in  their  keeping  as  citizens 
entitled  to  the  most  careful  regard  and  thoughtful  attention. 
This  regard  and  attention  should  be  awarded  them,  not  only 
because  labor  is  the  capital  of  our  workingmen,  justly  entitled 
to  its  share  of  government  favor,  but  for  the  further  and  not 
less  important  reason  that  the  laboring  man,  surrounded  by 
his  family  in  his  humble  home,  as  a  consumer,  is  vitally  in 
terested  in  all  that  cheapens  the  cost  of  living  and  enables 
him  to  bring  within  his  domestic  circle  additional  comforts 
and  advantages. 

This  relation  of  the  workingman  to  the  revenue  laws  of  the 
country,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  palpably  influences  the 
question  of  wages,  should  not  be  forgotten  in  the  justifiable 
prominence  given  to  the  proper  maintenance  of  the  supply 
and  protection  of  well-paid  labor.  And  these  considerations 
suggest  such  an  arrangement  of  government  revenues  as  shall 
reduce  the  expense  of  living,  while  it  does  not  curtail  the 
opportunity  for  work  nor  reduce  the  compensation  of  Ameri 
can  labor,  and  injuriously  affect  its  condition  and  the  dignified 
place  it  holds  in  the  estimation  of  our  people. 

Hut  our  farmers  and  agriculturists — those  who  from  the 
soil  produce  the  things  consumed  by  all — are,  perhaps,  more 
directly  and  plainly  concerned  than  any  other  of  our  citizens 
in  a  just  and  careful  system  of  Federal  taxation.  Those 
actually  engaged  in,  and  more  remotely  connected  with  this 
kind  of  work,  number  nearly  one-half  of  our  population. 
None  labor  harder  or  more  continuously  than  they.  No 
enactments  limit  their  hours  of  toil,  and  no  interposition  of  the 


72  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

government  enhances  to  any  great  extent  the  value  of  their 
products.  And  yet,  for  many  of  the  necessaries  and  comforts 
of  life,  which  the  most  scrupulous  economy  enables  them  to 
bring  into  their  homes,  and  for  their  implements  of  husbandry, 
they  are  obliged  to  pay  a  price  largely  increased  by  an  un 
natural  profit  which,  by  the  action  of  the  government,  is  given 
to  the  more  favored  manufacturer. 

I  recommend  that,  keeping  in  view  all  these  considerations, 
the  increasing  and  unnecessary  surplus  of  national  income 
annually  accumulating  be  released  to  the  people,  by  an 
amendment  to  our  revenue  laws  which  shall  cheapen  the  price 
of  the  necessaries  of  life,  and  give  freer  entrance  to  such  im 
ported  materials  as,  by  American  labor,  may  be  manufactured 
into  marketable  commodities. 

Nothing  can  be  accomplished,  however,  in  the  direction  of 
this  much  needed  reform,  unless  the  subject  is  approached  in 
a  patriotic  spirit  of  devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  entire 
country  and  with  a  willingness  to  yield  something  for  the 
public  good. 


VI. 

TJiird  Annual  Message  to  Congress. 

To  THE  CONGRESS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  : 

You  are  confronted  at  the  threshold  of  your  legislative  duties 
with  a  condition  of  the  national  finances  which  imperatively 
demands  immediate  and  careful  consideration. 

The  amount  of  money  annually  exacted,  through  the  oper 
ation  of  present  laws,  from  the  industries  and   necessities  of- 
the  people,  largely  exceeds  the  sum  necessary  to  meet  the  ex 
penses  of  the  government. 

When  we  consider  that  the  theory  of  our  institutions  guar 
antees  to  every  citizen  the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  fruits  of  his 
industry  and  enterprise,  with  only  such  deduction  as  may  be 
his  share  toward  the  careful  and  economical  maintenance  of 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  73 

the  government  which  protects  him,  it  is  plain  that  the  exaction 
of  more  than  this  is  indefensible  extortion,  and  a  culpable  be- 
trayal  of  American  fairness  and  justice.  This  wrong,  inflicted 
upon  those  who  bear  the  burden  of  national  taxation,  like 
other  wrongs  multiplies  a  brood  of  evil  consequences.  The 
public  treasury,  which  should  only  exist  as  a  conduit  convey, 
ing  the  people's  tribute  to  its  legitimate  objects  of  expenditure, 
becomes  a  hoarding-place  for  money  needlessly  withdrawn 
from  trade  and  the  people's  use,  thus  crippling  our  national 
energies,  suspending  our  country's  development,  preventing 
investment  in  productive  enterprise,  threatening  financial  dis 
turbance,  and  inviting  schemes  of  public  plunder. 

This  condition  of  our  treasury  is  not  altogether  new  ;  and 
it  has  more  than  once  of  late  been  submitted  to  the  people's 
-epresentatives  in  the  Congress,  who  alone  can  apply  a  remedy, 
/.nd  yet  the  situation  still  continues,  with  aggravated  inci- 
dmts,  more  than  ever  presaging  financial  convulsion  and 
wrle-spread  disaster. 

Jt  will  not  do  to  neglect  this  situation  because  its  dangers 
are  not  now  palpably  imminent  and  apparent.  They  exist 
none  the  less  certainly,  and  await  the  unforeseen  and  unex 
pected  occasion  when  suddenly  they  will  be  precipitated  upon 
us. 

On  he  soth  day  of  June,  1885,  the  excess  of  revenues  over 
public  expenditures,  after  complying  with  the  annual  require- 
ment  ofthe  Sinking-Fund  Act,  was  $i7,S59,735-84;  during  the 
year  enced  June  30,  1886,  such  excess  amounted  to  $49,- 
405,545.25 ;  and  during  the  year  ended  June  30,  1887,  it 
reached  tie  sum  of  $55,567,849.54. 

The  aniual  contributions  to  the  sinking  fund  during  the 
three  yean  above  specified,  amounting  in  the  aggregate  to 
$138,058,32^.94,  and  deducted  from  the  surplus  as  stated, 
were  made  1>  calling  in  for  that  purpose  outstanding  three 
per  cent.  bon\s  of  the  government.  During  the  six  months 
prior  to  June  £,  1887,  the  surplus  revenue  had  grown  so  large 
by  repeated  ac<umulations,  and  it  was  feared  the  withdrawal 


74  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

of  this  great  sum  of  money  needed  by   the   people   would   so 
affect  the  business  of  the  country,  that  the  sum  of  $79,864,100 
of  such  surplus  was  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  principal 
and  interest  of  the  three  per  cent,  bonds  still  outstanding,  and 
which  were  then  payable  at  the  option   of  the  government. 
The  precarious  condition  of  financial  affairs  among  the  people 
still   needing  relief,  immediately  after   the  3oth  day  of  June, 
1887,  the  remainder  of  the  three   per  cent,  bonds  then    out 
standing,  amounting  with  principal  and  interest  to  the  sum  of 
$18,877,500,  were  called  in  and  applied  to  the   sinking-fund 
contribution   for   the   current    fiscal   year.       Notwithstanding 
these  operations  of  the  Treasury  Department  representations 
of  distress  in  business  circles  not  only  continued  but  increased, 
and  absolute  peril  seemed  at  hand.     In  these  circumstance/ 
the  contribution  to  the  sinking  fund  for  the  current  fiscal  year 
was  at  once  completed  by  the  expenditure  of  $27,684,283^5 
in  the  purchase  of  government  bonds  not  yet  due,  bearing  four 
and  four  and  one  half  per  cent,  interest,  the  premium  paid  there 
on  averaging  about  twenty-four  per  cent,  for  the  former  and 
eight  percent,  for  the  latter.     In  addition  to  this  the  interest 
accruing  during  the  current  year  upon  the  outstanding  bended 
indebtedness   of  the   government  was   to  some  extent  intici- 
pated,  and  banks  selected   as   depositories  of   public  money 
were  permitted  somewhat  to  increase  their  deposits. 

While  the  expedients  thus  employed  to  release  to  tb  people 
the  money  lying  idle  in  the  treasury  served  to  avet  imme 
diate  danger,  our  surplus  revenues  have  continued  to  accu 
mulate,  the  excess  for  the  present  year  amounting  <n  the  first 
of  December  to  $55,258,701.19,  and  estimated  t(  reach  the 
sum  of  $113,000,000  on  the  3oth  of  June  next,  at  which  date 
it  is  expected  that  this  sum,  added  to  prior  accusations,  will 
swell  the  surplus  in  the  treasury  to  $140,000,000 

There  seems  to  be  no  assurance  that,  with  suci  a  withdrawal 
from  use  of  the  people's  circulating  mediur,  our  business 
community  may  not  in  the  near  future  be  >ubjected  to  the 
same  distress  which  was  quite  lately  product  from  the  same 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  75 

cause.  And  while  the  functions  of  our  national  treasury 
should  be  few  and  simple,  and  while  its  best  condition  would 
be  reached,  I  believe,  by  its  entire  disconnection  with  private 
business  interests,  yet  when,  by  a  perversion  of  its  purposes,  it 
idly  holds  money  uselessly  subtracted  from  the  channels  of 
trade,  there  seems  to  be  reason  for  the  claim  that  some  legit 
imate  means  should  be  devised  by  the  government  to  restore 
in  an  emergency,  without  waste  or  extravagance,  such  money 
to  its  place  among  the  people. 

If  such  an  emergency  arises  there  now  exists  no  clear  and 
undoubted  executive  power  of  relief.  Heretofore  the  re 
demption  of  three  per  cent,  bonds,  which  were  payable  at  the 
option  of  the  government,  has  afforded  a  means  for  the  dis 
bursement  of  the  excess  of  our  revenues  ;  but  these  bonds 
have  all  been  retired,  and  there  are  no  bonds  outstanding  the 
payment  of  which  we  have  the  right  to  insist  upon.  The  con 
tribution  to  the  sinking  fund,  which  furnishes  the  occasion  for 
expenditure  in  the  purchase  of  bonds,  has  been  already  made 
for  the  current  year,  so  that  there  is  no  outlet  in  that  direc 
tion. 

In  the  present  state  of  legislation  the  only  pretense  of  any 
existing  executive  power  to  restore,  at  this  time,  any  part  of 
our  surplus  revenues  to -the  people  by  its  expenditure,  consists 
in  the  supposition  that  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  may  enter 
the  market  and  purchase  the  bonds  of  the  government  not  yet 
due,  at  a  rate  of  premium  to  be  agreed  upon.  The  only  pro 
vision  of  law  from'which  such  a  power  could  be  derived  is 
found  in  an  appropriation  bill  passed  a  number  of  years  ago  ; 
and  it  is  subject  to  the  suspicion  that  it  was  intended  as  tem 
porary  and  limiting  in  its  application,  instead  of  conferring  a 
continuing  discretion  and  authority.  No  condition  ought  to 
exist  which  would  justify  the  grant  of  power  to  a  single 
official,  upon  his  judgment  of  its  necessity,  to  withhold  from  or 
release  to  the  business  of  the  people,  in  an  unusual  manner, 
money  held  in  the  treasury,  and  thus  affect,  at  his  will,  the 
financial  condition  of  the  country  ;  and  if  it  is  deemed  wise  to 


76  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

lodge  in  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  the  authority  in  the 
present  juncture  to  purchase  bonds,  it  should  be  plainly 
vested,  and  provided,  as  far  as  possible,  with  such  checks  and 
limitations  as  will  define  this  official's  right  and  discretion, 
and  at  the  same  time  relieve  him  from  undue  responsibility. 

In  considering  the  question  of  purchasing  bonds  as  a  means 
of  restoring  to  circulation  the  surplus  money  accumulating  in 
the  treasury,  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  premiums  must, 
of  course,  be  paid  upon  such  purchase,  that  there  may  be  a 
large  part  of  these  bonds  held  as  investments  which  cannot  be 
purchased  at  any  price,  and  that  combinations  among  holders 
who  are  willing  to  sell  may  unreasonably  enhance  the  cost  of 
such  bonds  to  the  government. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  present  bonded  debt  might 
be  refunded  at  a  less  rate  of  interest,  and  the  difference  be 
tween  the  old  and  new  security  paid  in  cash,  thus  finding  use 
for  the  surplus  in  the  treasury.  The  success  of  this  plan,  it 
is  apparent,  must  depend  upon  the  volition  of  the  holders  of 
the  present  bonds  ;  and  it  is  not  entirely  certain  that  the  in 
ducement  which  must  be  offered  them  would  result  in  more 
financial  benefit  to  the  government  than  the  purchase  of  bonds, 
while  the  latter  proposition  would  reduce  the  principal  of  the 
debt  by  actual  payment,  instead  of  extending  it. 

The  proposition  to  deposit  the  money  held  by  the  govern 
ment  in  banks  throughout  the  country,  for  use  by  the  people, 
is,  it  seems  to  me,  exceedingly  objectionable  in  principle,  as 
establishing  too  close  a  relationship  between  the  operations  of 
the  government  treasury  and  the  business  of  the  country,  and 
too  extensive  a  commingling  of  their  money,  thus  fostering  an 
unnatural  reliance  in  private  business  upon  public  funds.  If 
this  scheme  should  be  adopted  it  should  only  be  done  as  a 
temporary  expedient  to  meet  an  urgent  necessity.  Legislative 
and  executive  effort  should  generally  be  in  the  opposite  direc 
tion,  and  should  have  a  tendency  to  divorce,  as  much  and  as 
fast  as  can  safely  be  done,  the  Treasury  Department  from  pri 
vate  enterprise. 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  77 

Of  course,  it  is  not  expected  that  unnecessary  and  extrav 
agant  appropriations  will  be  made  for  the  purpose  of  avoiding 
the  accumulation  of  an  excess  of  revenue.  Such  expenditure, 
besides  the  demoralization  of  all  just  conceptions  of  public 
duty  which  it  entails,  stimulates  a  habit  of  reckless  improvi 
dence  not  in  the  least  consistent  with  the  mission  of  our  peo 
ple  or  the  high  and  beneficent  purposes  of  our  government. 

I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  thus  to  bring  to  the  knowledge  of 
my  countrymen,  as  well  as  to  the  attention  of  their  representa 
tives  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  legislative  relief,  the 
gravity  of  our  financial  situation.  The  failure  of  the  Congress 
heretofore  to  provide  against  the  dangers  which  it  was  quite 
evident  the  very  nature  of  the  difficulty  must  necessarily  pro 
duce,  caused  a  condition  of  financial  distress  and  apprehen 
sion  since  your  last  adjournment  which  taxed  to  the  utmost 
all  the  authority  and  expedients  within  executive  control  ;  and 
these  appear  now  to  be  exhausted.  If  disaster  results  from 
the  continued  inaction  of  Congress,  the  responsibility  must 
rest  where  it  belongs. 

Though  the  situation,  thus  far  considered,  is  fraught  with 
danger  which  should  be  fully  realized,  and  though  it  presents 
features  of  wrong  to  the  people  as  well  as  peril  to  the  country, 
it  is  but  a  result  growing  out  of  a  perfectly  palpable  and  ap 
parent  cause,  constantly  reproducing  the  same  alarming  cir 
cumstances — a  congested  national  treasury  and  a  depleted 
monetary  condition  in  the  business  of  the  country.  It  need 
hardly  be  stated  that  while  the  present  situation  demands  a 
remedy,  we  can  only  be  saved  from  a  like  predicament  in  the 
future  by  the  removal  of  its  cause. 

Our  scheme  of  taxation,  by  means  of  which  this  needless 
surplus  is  taken  from  the  people  and  put  into  the  public  treas 
ury,  consists  of  a  tariff  or  duty  levied  upon  importations  from 
abroad,  and  internal  revenue  taxes  levied  upon  the  consump 
tion  of  tobacco  and  spirituous  and  malt  liquors.  It  must  be 
conceded  that  none  of  the  things  subjected  to  internal  revenue 
taxation  are,  strictly  speaking,  necessaries  ;  there  appears  to 


78  TAXATION  AND   KE  VENUE. 

be  no  just  complaint  of  this  taxation  by  the  consumers  of  these 
articles,  and  there  seems  to  be  nothing  so  well  able  to  bear  the 
burden  without  hardship  to  any  portion  of  the  people. 

But  our  present  tariff  laws,  the  vicious,  inequitable,  and 
illogical  source  of  unnecessary  taxation,  ought  to  be  at  once 
revised  and  amended.  These  laws,  as  their  primary  and  plain 
effect,  raise  the  price  to  consumers  of  all  articles  imported  and 
subject  to  duty,  by  precisely  the  sum  paid  for  such  duties. 
Thus  the  amount  of  the  duty  measures  the  tax  paid  by  those 
who  purchase  for  use  these  imported  articles.  Many  of  these 
things,  however,  are  raised  or  manufactured  in  our  own  coun 
try,  and  the  duties  now  levied  upon  foreign  goods  and  pro 
ducts  are  called  protection  to  these  home  manufactures,  be 
cause  they  render  it  possible  for  those  of  our  people  who  are 
manufacturers  to  make  these  taxed  articles  and  sell  them  for  a 
price  equal  to  that  demanded  for  the  imported  goods  that 
have  paid  customs  duty.  So.  it  happens  that  while  compara 
tively  a  few  use  the  imported  articles,  millions  of  our  people, 
who  never  use  and  never  saw  any  of  the  foreign  products,  pur 
chase  and  use  things  of  the  same  kind  made  in  this  country, 
and  pay  therefor  nearly  or  quite  the  same  enhanced  price 
which  the  duty  adds  to  the  imported  articles.  Those  who  buy 
imports  pay  the  duty  charged  thereon  into  the  public  treas 
ury,  but  the  great  majority  of  our  citizens,  who  buy  domestic 
articles  of  the  same  class,  pay  a  sum  at  least  approximately 
equal  to  this  duty  to  the  home  manufacturer.  This  reference 
to  the  operation  of  our  tariff  laws  is  not  made  by  way  of  in 
struction,  but  in  order  that  we  may  be  constantly  reminded  of 
the  manner  in  which  they  impose  a  burden  upon  those  who 
consume  domestic. products  as  well  as  those  who  consume  im 
ported  articles,  and  thus  create  a  tax  upon  our  people. 

It  is  not  proposed  to  relieve  the  country  entirely  of  this  tax 
ation.  It  must  be  extensively  continued  as  the  source  of  the 
government's  income  ;  and  in  a  readjustment  of  our  tariff 
the  interests  of  American  labor  engaged  in  manufacture 
should  be  carefully  considered,  as  well  as  the  preservation  of 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  79 

our  manufacturers.  It  may  be  called  protection,  or  by  any 
other  name,  but  relief  from  the  hardships  and  dangers  of  our 
present  tariff  laws  should  be  devised  with  especial  precaution 
against  imperiling  the  existence  of  our  manufacturing  inter 
ests.  But  this  existence  should  not  mean  a  condition  which, 
without  regard  to  the  public  welfare  or  a  national  exigency, 
must  always  insure  the  realization  of  immense  profits  instead 
of  moderately  profitable  returns.  As  the  volume  and  diver- 
sity  of  our  national  activities  increase,  new  recruits  are  added 
to  those  who  desire  a  continuation  of  the  advantages  which 
they  conceive  the  present  system  of  tariff  taxation  directly 
affords  them.  So  stubbornly  have  all  efforts  to  reform  the 
present  condition  been  resisted  by  those  of  our  fellow-citizens 
thus  engaged,  that  they  can  hardly  complain  of  the  suspicion, 
entertained  to  a  certain  extent,  that  there  exists  an  organized 
combination,  all  along  the  line,  to  maintain  their  advantage. 

We  are  in  the  midst  of  centennial  celebrations,  and  with  be 
coming  pride  we  rejoice  in  American  skill  and  ingenuity,  in 
American  energy  and  enterprise,  and  in  the  wonderful  natural 
advantages  and  resources  developed  by  a  century's  national 
growth.  Yet,  when  an  attempt  is  made  to  justify  a  scheme 
which  permits  a  tax  to  be  laid  upon  every  consumer  in  the 
land  for  the  benefit  of  our  manufacturers,  quite  beyond  a  rea 
sonable  demand  for  governmental  regard,  it  suits  the  purposes 
of  advocacy  to  call  our  manufactures  infant  industries,  still 
needing  the  highest  and  greatest  degree  of  favor  and  foster 
ing  care  that  can  be  wrung  from  Federal  legislation. 

It  is  also  said  that  the  increase  in  the  price  of  domestic 
manufactures  resulting  from  the  present  tariff  is  necessary  in 
order  that  higher  wages  may  be  paid  to  our  workingmen,  em 
ployed  in  manufactories,  than  are  paid  for  what  is  called  the 
pauper  labor  of  Europe.  All  will  acknowledge  the  force  of 
an  argument  which  involves  the  welfare  and  liberal  compensa 
tion  of  our  laboring  people.  Our  labor  is  honorable  in  the 
eyes  of  every  American  citizen  ;  and  as  it  lies  at  the  founda 
tion  of  our  development  and  progress,  it  is  entitled,  without 


80  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

affectation  or  hypocrisy,  to  the  utmost  regard.  The  standard 
of  our  laborers'  life  should  not  be  measured  by  that  of  any 
other  country  less  favored,  and  they  are  entitled  to  their  full 
share  of  all  our  advantages. 

By  the  last  census  it  is  made  to  appear  that  of  the  17,392,099 
of  our  population  engaged  in  all  kinds  of  industries,  7,670,493 
are  employed  in  agriculture,  4,074,238  in  professional  and 
personal  service— 2,934,876  of  whom  are  domestic  servants  and 
laborers— while  1,810,256  are  employed  in  trade  and  transpor 
tation,  and  3,837,1 1 2  are  classed  as  employed  in  manufacturing 
and  mining. 

For  present  purposes,  however,  the  last  number  given  should 
be  considerably  reduced.  Without  attempting  to  enumerate 
all,  it  will  be  conceded  that  there  should  be  deducted  from 
those  whom  it  includes  375,^43  carpenters  and  joiners,  285,401 
milliners,  dressmakers,  and  seamstresses,  172,726  blacksmiths, 
133,756  tailors  and  tailoresses,  102,473  masons,  76,241  butchers, 
41,309  bakers,  22,083  plasterers,  and  4891  engaged  in  manu 
facturing  agricultural  implements,  amounting  in  the  aggregate 
to  1,214,023,  leaving  2,623,089  persons  employed  in  such  man 
ufacturing  industries  as  are  claimed  to  be  benefited  by  a  hteh 
tariff. 

To  these  the  appeal  is  made  to  save  their  employment  and 
maintain  their  wages  by  resisting  a  change.  There  should  be 
no  disposition  to  answer  such  suggestions  by  the  allegation 
that  they  are  in  a  minority  among  those  who  labor,  and  there 
fore  should  forego  an  advantage,  in  the  interest  of  low  prices 
for  the  majority  ;  their  compensation,  as  it  may  be  affected  by 
the  operation  of  tariff  laws,  should  at  all  times  be  scrupulously 
kept  in  view  ;  and  yet,  with  slight  reflection,  they  will  not  over 
look  the  fact  that  they  are  consumers  with  the  rest ;  that  they, 
too,  have  their  own  wants  and  those  of  their  families  to  supply 
from  their  earnings,  and  that  the  price  of  the  necessaries  of 
life,  as  well  as  the  amount  of  their  wages,  will  regulate  the 
measure  of  their  welfare  and  comfort. 

But   the    reduction    of    taxation    demanded    should   be   so 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  8l 

measured  as  not  to  necessitate  or  justify  either  the  loss  of  em 
ployment  by  the  workingman  or  the  lessening  of  his  wages  ; 
and  the  profits  still  remaining  to  the  manufacturer,  after  a 
necessary  readjustment,  should  furnish  no  excuse  for  the  sacri 
fice  of  the  interests  of  his  employees,  either  in  their  opportunity 
to  work,  or  in  the  diminution  of  their  compensation.  Nor  can 
the  worker  in  manufactures  fail  to  understand  that  while  a 
high  tariff  is  claimed  to  be  necessary  to  allow  the  payment  of 
remunerative  wages,  it  certainly  results  in  a  very  large  increase 
in  the  price  of  nearly  all  sorts  of  manufactures,  which,  in 
almost  countless  forms,  he  needs  for  the  use  of  himself  and 
his  family.  He  receives  at  the  desk  of  his  employer  his 
wages,  and,  perhaps  before  he  reaches  his  home,  is  obliged,  in 
a  purchase  for  family  use  of  an  article  which  embraces  his  own 
labor,  to  return,  in  the  payment  of  the  increase  in  price  which 
the  tariff  permits,  the  hard-earned  compensation  of  many  days 
of  toil. 

The  farmer  and  agriculturist,  who  manufactures  nothing, 
but  who  pays  the  increased  price  which  the  tariff  imposes 
upon  every  agricultural  implement,  upon  all  he  wears  and  upon 
all  he  uses  and  owns,  except  the  increase  of  his  flocks  and 
herds  and  such  things  as  his  husbandry  produces  from  the 
soil,  is  invited  to  aid  in  maintaining  the  present  situation  ;  and 
he  is  told  that  a  high  duty  on  imported  wool  is  necessary  for 
the  benefit  of  those  who  have  sheep  to  shear,  in  order  that  the 
price  of  their  wool  may  be  increased.  They,  of  course,  are  not 
reminded  that  the  fanner  who  has  no  sheep  is  by  this  scheme 
obliged,  in  his  purchases  of  clothing  and  woolen  goods,  to  pay 
a  tribute  to  his  fellow-farmer  as  well  as  to  the  manufacturer 
and  merchant ;  nor  is  any  mention  made  of  the  fact  that  the 
sheep-owners  themselves  and  their  households  must  wear 
clothing  and  use  other  articles  manufactured  from  the  wool 
they  sell  at  tariff  prices,  and  thus,  as  consumers,  must  return 
their  share  of  this  increased  price  to  the  tradesman. 

I  think  it  may  be  fairly  assumed  that  a  large  proportion  of 
the  sheep  owned  by  the  farmers  throughout  the  country  are 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

found  in  small  flocks  numbering    from    twenty-five    to  fifty. 
The  duty  on  the  grade  of  imported    wool  which  these  sheep 
yield  is  ten  cents  each  pound,  if  of  the  value  of  thirty  cents  or 
less,  and  twelve  cents  if  of  the  value  of  more  than  thirty  cents. 
If  the  liberal  estimate  of  six  pounds  be  allowed  for  each  fleece, 
the  duty   thereon  would   be    sixty  or  seventy-two  cents,  and 
this  may  be  taken  as  the  utmost  enhancement  of  its  price  to 
the  farmer  by  reason  of  this   duty.     Eighteen  dollars  would 
tli us  represent  the  increased  price  of  the  wool  from  twenty-five 
sheep  and  thirty-six  dollars  that  from  the  wool  of  fifty  sheep  ; 
and,  at  present   values,  this  addition  would   amount   to  about 
one-third  of   its  price.     If,  upon   its  sale,  the  farmer   receives 
this  or  a  less  tariff  profit,  the  wool   leaves  his  hands  charged 
with  precisely  that  sum,  which,  in  all  its  changes,  will  adhere  to 
it  until   it  reaches  the   consumer.     When  manufactured   into 
cloth  and  other  goods  and  material  for  use,  its  cost  is  not  only 
increased    to  the  extent    of  the  farmer's  tariff    profit,   but  a 
further  sum  has  been  added  for  the  benefit  of  the  manufacturer 
under  the  operation  of  other  tariff  laws.     In  the  meantime  the 
day  arrives  when  the  farmer  finds   it   necessary  to   purchase 
woolen  goods  and  material  to  clothe  himself  and  family  for  the 
winter.      When    he  faces  the  tradesman  for  that  purpose  he 
Jiscovers  that  he  is  obliged  not  only  to  return,  in   the   way  of 
increased  prices,  his  tariff  profit  on  the  wool  he  sold,  and  which 
then  perhaps  lies  before  him  in   manufactured  form,  but   that 
he  must  add  a  considerable  sum  thereto  to   meet  a  further  in- 
crease  in  cost   caused   by  a  tariff  duty  on   the  manufacture 
1  hus,  in  the  end,  he  is  aroused  to  the  fact  that  he  has  paid  upon 
a  moderate  purchase,  as  a  result  of  the  tariff  scheme,  which 
when  he  sold   his  wool,  seemed   so  profitable,  an  increase  in 
price  more  than  sufficient  to  sweep  away  all  the  tariff  profit  he 
received  upon  the  wool  he  produced  and  sold. 

When  the  number  of  farmers  engaged  in  wool-raising  is  com 
pared  with  all  the  farmers  in  the  country,  and  the  small  pro- 
portion  they  bear  to  our  population  is  considered  ;  when  it  is 
made  apparent,  that,  in  the  case  of  a  large  part  of  those  who 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  §3 

own  sheep,  the  benefit  of  the  present  tariff  on  wool  is  illusory  ; 
and  above  all,  when  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  increase  of 
the  cost  of  living  caused  by  such  tariff  becomes  a  burden  upon 
those  with  moderate  means  and  the  poor,  the  employed  and 
unemployed,  the  sick  and  well,  and  the  young  and  old,  and 
that  it  constitutes  a  tax  which,  with  relentless  grasp,  is  fast 
ened  upon  the  clothing  of  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the 
land,  reasons  are  suggested  why  the  removal  or  reduction  of 
tnis  duty  should  be  included  in  a  revision  of  our  tariff  laws. 

In  speaking  of  the  increased  cost  to  the  consumer  of  our 
home  manufactures,  resulting  from  a  duty  laid  upon  imported 
articles  of  the  same  description,  the  fact  is  not  overlooked 
that  competition  among  our  domestic  producers  sometimes 
has  the  effect  of  keeping  the  price  of  their  products  below  the 
highest  limit  allowed  by  such  duty.  But  it  is  notorious  that 
this  competition  is  too  often  strangled  by  combinations  quite 
prevalent  at  this  time,  and  frequently  called  trusts,  which  have 
for  their  object  the  regulation  of  the  supply  and  price  of  com 
modities  made^and  sold  by  members  of  the  combination.  The 
people  can  hardly  hope  for  any  consideration  in  the  operation 
of  these  selfish  schemes. 

If,  however,  in  the  absence  of  such  combination,  a  healthy 
and  free  competition  reduces  the  price  of  any  particular  duti 
able  article  of  home  production  below  the  limit  which  it  might 
otherwise  reach  under  our  tariff  laws,  and  if,  with  such  reduced 
price,  its  manufacture  continues  to  thrive,  it  is  entirely  evident 
that  one  thing  has  been  discovered  which  should  be  carefully 
scrutinized  in  an  effort  to  reduce  taxation. 

The  necessity  of  combination  to  maintain  the  price  of  any 
commodity  to  the  tariff  point  furnishes  proof  that  someone  is 
willing  to  accept  lower  prices  for  such  commodity,  and  that 
such  prices  are  remunerative  ;  and  lower  prices  produced  by 
competition  prove  the  same  thing.  Thus,  where  either  of 
these  conditions  exists,  a  case  would  seem  to  be  presented  for 
an  easy  reduction  of  taxation. 

The   considerations  which  have  been   presented    touching 


84  TAXATION  AND  KE VENUE. 

our  tariff  laws  are  intended  only  to  enforce  an  earnest  recom 
mendation  that  the  surplus  revenues  of  the  government  be 
prevented  by  the  reduction  of  our  customs  duties;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  to  emphasize  a  suggestion  that,  in  accomplishing 
this  purpose,  we  may  discharge  a  double  duty  to  our  people 
by  granting  to  them  a  measure  of  relief  from  tariff  taxation  in 
quarters  where  it  is  most  needed  and  from  sources  where  it 
can  be  most  fairly  and  justly  accorded. 

Nor  can  the  presentation  made  of  such  considerations  be 
with  any  degree  of  fairness,  regarded  as  evidence  of  unfriend 
liness  toward  our  manufacturing  interests,  or  of  any  lack  of 
appreciation  of  their  value  and  importance. 

These  interests  constitute  a  leading  and  most  substantial 
element  of  our  national  greatness,  and  furnish  the  proud  proof 
of  our  country's  progress.  But  if,  in  the  emergency  that 
presses  upon  us,  our  manufacturers  are  asked  to  surrender 
something  for  the  public  good  and  to  avert  disaster,  their  pa 
triotism,  as  well  as  a  grateful  recognition  of  advantages  already 
afforded,  should  lead  them  to  willing  co-operation.  No  de 
mand  is  made  that  they  shall  forego  all  the  benefits  of  govern 
mental  regard  ;  but  they  cannot  fail  to  be  admonished  of  their 
duty,  as  well  as  their  enlightened  self-interest  and  safety,  when 
they  are  reminded  of  the  fact  that  financial  panic  and  collapse, 
to  which  the  present  condition  tends,  afford  no  greater  shelter' 
or  protection  to  our  manufactures  than  to  our  other  important 
enterprises.  Opportunity  for  safe,  careful,  and  deliberate  re 
form  is  now  offered,  and  none  of  us  should  be  unmindful  of 
a  time  when  an  abused  and  irritated  people,  heedless  of  those 
who  have  resisted  timely  and  reasonable  relief,  may  insist  upon 
a  radical  and  sweeping  rectification  of  their  wrongs. 

The  difficulty  attending  a  wise  and  fair  revision  of  our  tariff 
laws  is  not  underestimated.  It  will  require  on  the  part  of  the 
Congress  great  labor  and  care,  and  especially  a  broad  and 
national  contemplation  of  the  subject,  and  a  patriotic  disregard 
of  such  local  and  selfish  claims  as  are  unreasonable  and  reck 
less  of  the  welfare  of  the  entire  country. 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  S5 

Under  our  present  laws  more  than  four  thousand  articles 
are  subject  to  duty.  Many  of  these  do  not  in  any  way  com 
pete  with  oiir  own  manufactures  and  many  are  hardly  worth 
attention  as  subjects  of  revenue.  A  considerable  reduction  can 
be  made  in  the  aggregate  by  adding  them  to  the  free  list. 
The  taxation  of  luxuries  presents  no  features  of  hardship  ;  but 
the  necessaries  of  life,  used  and  consumed  by  all  the  people, 
the  duty  upon  which  adds  to  the  cost  of  living  in  every  home, 
should  be  greatly  cheapened. 

The  radical  reduction  of  the  duties  imposed  upon  raw 
material  used  in  manufactures,  or  its  free  importation,  is,  of 
course,  an  important  factor  in  any  effort  to  reduce  the  prices 
of  these  necessaries  ;  it  would  not  only  relieve  them  from  the 
increased  cost  caused  by  the  tariff  on  such  material,  but  the 
manufactured  product  being  thus  cheapened,  that  part  of  the 
tariff  now  laid  upon  such  product,  as  a  compensation  to  our 
manufacturers  for  the  present  price  of  raw  material,  could  be 
accordingly  modified.  Such  reduction,  or  free  importation, 
would  serve  besides  largely  to  reduce  the  revenue.  It  is  not 
apparent  how  such  a  change  can  have  any  injurious  effect  upon 
our  manufacturers.  On  the  contrary,  it  would  appear  to  give 
them  a  better  chance  in  foreign  markets  with  the  manufacturers  . 
of  other  countries,  who  cheapen  their  wares  by  free  material. 
Thus  our  people  might  have  the  opportunity  of  extending  their 
sales  beyond  the  limits  of  home  consumption — saving  them 
from  the  depression,  interruption  in  business,  and  loss 
caused  by  a  glutted  domestic  market,  and  affording  their  em 
ployees  more  certain  and  steady  labor,  with  its  resulting  quiet 
and  contentment. 

'I' he  question  thus  imperatively  presented  for  solution  should 
be  approached  in  a  spirit  higher  than  partisanship,  and  con 
sidered  in  the  light  of  that  regard  for  patriotic  duty  which 
should  characterize  the  action  of  those  intrusted  with  the  weal 
of  a  confiding  people.  But  the  obligation  to  declared  party 
policy  and  principle  is  not  wanting  to  urge  prompt  and  effective 
action.  Both  of  the  great  political  parties  now  represented  in  the 


86  TAXATION  AND  REVENUE. 

government  have,  by  repeated  and  authoritative  declarations, 
condemned  the  condition  of  our  laws  which  permits  the  collec 
tion  from  the  people  of  unnecessary  revenue,  ancl  have  in  the 
most  solemn  manner  promised  its  correction  ;  and  neither  as 
citizens  nor  partisans  are  our  countrymen  in  a  mood  to  con 
done  the  deliberate  violation  of  these  pledges. 

Our  progress  toward  a  wise  conclusion  will  not  be  improved 
by  dwelling  upon  the  theories  of  protection  and  free  trade. 
This  savors  too  much  of  bandying  epithets.  It  is  a  condition 
which  confronts  us — not  a  theory.  Relief  from  this  condition 
may  involve  a  slight  reduction  of  the  advantages  which  we 
award  our  home  productions,  but  the  entire  withdrawal  of  such 
advantages  should  not  be  contemplated.  The  question  of 
free  trade  is  absolutely  irrelevant  ;  and  the  persistent  claim 
made  in  certain  quarters  that  all  efforts  to  relieve  the  people 
from  unjust  and  unnecessary  taxation  are  schemes  of  so-called 
free-traders  is  mischievous,  and  far  removed  from  any  con 
sideration  for  the  public  good. 

The  simple  and  plain  duty  which  we  owe  the  people  is  to 
reduce  the  taxation  to  the  necessary  expenses  of  an  economical 
operation  of  the  government,  and  to  restore  to  the  business 
of  the  country  the  money  which  we  hold  in  the  treasury 
through  the  perversion  of  governmental  powers.  These  things 
can  and  should  be  done  with  safety  to  all  our  industries,  with 
out  danger  to  the  opportunity  for  remunerative  labor  which 
our  workingmen  need,  and  with  benefit  to  them  and  all  our 
people,  by  cheapening  their  means  of  subsistence  and 
increasing  the  measure  of  their  comforts. 

The  Constitution  provides  that  the  President  "  shall,  from 
time  to  time,  give  to  the  Congress  information  of  the  state  of  the 
Union."  It  has  been  the  custom  of  the  Executive,  in  com 
pliance  with  this  provision,  to  exhibit  annually  to  the  Congress, 
at  the  opening  of  its  session,  the  general  condition  of  the 
country,  and  to  detail,  with  some  particularity,  the  operations 
of  the  different  Executive  Departments.  It  would  be  especially 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  87 

agreeable  to  follow  this  course  at  the  present  time,  and  to  call 
attention  to  the  valuable  accomplishments  of  these  Depart 
ments  during  the  last  fiscal  year.  But  I  am  so  much  im 
pressed  with  the  paramount  importance  of  the  subject  to  which 
this  communication  has  thus  far  been  devoted  that  I  shall 
forego  the  addition  of  any  other  topic,  and  shall  only  urge 
upon  your  immediate  consideration  the  "  state  of  the  Union,"  as 
shown  in  the  present  condition  of  our  treasury  and  our  gen 
eral  fiscal  situation,  upon  which  every  element  of  our  safety 
and  prosperity  depends. 

The  reports  of  the  heads  of  Departments,  which  will  be 
submitted,  contain  full  and  explicit  information  touching  the 
transaction  of  the  business  intrusted  to  them,  and  such  rec 
ommendations  relating  to  legislation  in  the  public  interest  as  they 
deem  advisable.  "  I  ask  for  these  reports  and  recommendations 
the  deliberate  examination  and  action  of  the  legislative  branch 
of  the  government. 

There  are  other  subjects  not  embraced  in  the  departmental 
reports  demanding  legislative  consideration  and  which  I  should 
be  glad  to  submit.  Some  of  them,  however,  have  been  ear 
nestly  presented  in  previous  messages  ;  and  as  to  them,  I  beg 
leave  to  repeat  prior  recommendations. 

As  the  law  makes  no  provision  for  any  report  from  the 
Department  of  State,  a  brief  history  of  the  transactions  of 
that  important  Department,  together  with  other  matters  which 
it  may  hereafter  be  deemed  essential  to  commend  to  the 
attention  of  the  Congress,  .may  furnish  the  occasion  for  a 
future  communication. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  December  6,  1887. 


88  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

VII. 
Letter  to   Tammany  Hall  Celebration. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  June  29,  1888. 
To  JAMES  A.   FLACK,   Grand  Sachem: 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  regret  that  I  am  obliged  to  decline  the  cour 
teous  invitation  which  I  have  received  to  attend  the  celebration 
by  the  Tammany  Society  of  the  birthday  of  our  republic  on 
the  4th  day  of  July  next.  The  zeal  and  enthusiasm  with 
which  your  society  celebrates  this  day  afford  proof  of  its  stead 
fast  patriotism  as  well  as  its  care  for  all  that  pertains  to  the 
advantage  and  prosperity  of  the  people. 

I  cannot  doubt  that  the  renewal  of  a  "  love  and  devotion  to 
a  pure  Jeffersonian  Democratic  form  of  government,"  which 
you  contemplate,  will  suggest  the  inquiry  whether  the  people 
are  receiving  all  the  benefits  which  are  due  them  under  such  a 
form  of  government.  These  benefits  are  not  fully  enjoyed 
when  our  citizens  are  unnecessarily  burdened,  and  their  earn 
ings  and  incomes  are  uselessly  diminished  under  the  pretext 
of  governmental  support. 

Our  government  belongs  to  the  people.  They  have  decreed 
its  purpose ;  and  it  is  their  clear  right  to  demand  that  its  cost 
shall  be  limited  by  frugality,  and  that  its  burden  of  expense 
shall  be  carefully  limited  by  its  actual  needs.  And  yet  a  use 
less  and  dangerous  surplus  in  the  national  treasury  tells  no 
other  talc  but  extortion  on  the  part  of  the  government,  and  a 
perversion  of  the  people's  intention.  In  the  midst  of  our  im 
petuous  enterprise  and  blind  confidence  in  our  destiny,  it  is 
time  to  pause  and  study  our  condition.  It  is  no  sooner  appre 
ciated  than  the  conviction  must  follow  that  the  tribute  exacted 
from  the  people  should  be  diminished. 

The  theories  which  cloud  the  subject,  misleading  honest 
men,  and  the  appeals  to  selfish  interests  which  deceive  the  un 
derstanding,  make  the  reform,  which  should  be  easy,  a  difficult 
task.  Although  those  who  propose  a  remedy  for  present  evils 


TAXATION  AND  REVENUE.  9 

have  always  been  the  friends  of  American  labor,  and  though 
they  declare  their  purpose  to  further  its  interests  in  all  their 
efforts,  yet  those  who  oppose  reform  attempt  to  disturb  our 
workingmen  by  the  cry  that  their  wages  and  their  employment 
are  threatened. 

They  advocate  a  system  which  benefits  certain  classes  of 
our  citizens  at  the  expense  of  every  householder  in  the  land— 
a  system  which  breeds  discontent,  because  it  permits  the  du 
plication  of  wealth  without  corresponding  additional  recom 
pense  to  labor,  which  prevents  the  opportunity  to  work  by 
stifling  production  and  limiting  the  area  of  our  markets,  and 
wJiich  enhances  the  cost  of  living  beyond  the  laborer's  hard- 
earned  wages. 

The  attempt  is  made  to  divert  the  attention  of  the  people 
from  the  evils  of  such  a  scheme  of  taxation,  by  branding  those 
who  seek  to  correct  these  evils  as  free-traders,  and  enemies  of 
our  workingmen  and  our  industrial  enterprises.  This  is  so  far 
from  the  truth  that  there  should  be  no  chance  for  such  decep 
tion  to  succeed. 

It  behooves  the  American  people,  while  they  rejoice  in  the 
anniversary  of  the  day  when  their  free  government  was  de 
clared,  also  to  reason  together  and  determine  that  they  will 
not  be  deprived  of  the  blessings  and  the  benefits  which  their 
government  should  afford. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


VIII. 
From  the  Fourth  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December,  1888. 

As  you  assemble  for  the  discharge  of  the  duties  you  have 
assumed  as  the  representatives  of  a  free  and  generous  people, 
your  meeting  is  marked  by  an  interesting  and  impressive  inci 
dent.  With  the  expiration  of  the  present  session  of  the  Con- 


9°  TAXATION  AND  REVENUE. 

gress  the  first  century  of  our  constitutional  existence  as  a  na 
tion  will  be  completed. 

Our  survival  for  one  hundred  years  is  not  sufficient  to  as 
sure  us  that  we  no  longer  have  dangers  to  fear  in  the  main 
tenance,  with  all  its  promised  blessings,  of  a  government 
founded  upon  the  freedom  of  the  people.  The  time  rather 
admonishes  us  soberly  to  inquire  whether  in  the  past  we  have 
always  closely  kept  in  the  course  of  safety,  and  whether  we 
have  before  us  a  way,  plain  and  clear,  which  leads  to  happiness 
and  perpetuity. 

When  the  experiment  of  our  government  was  undertaken, 
the  chart  adopted  for  our  guidance  was  the  Constitution! 
Departure  from  the  lines  there  laid  down  is  failure.  It  is  only 
by  a  strict  adherence  to  the  directions  they  indicate,  and  by  re- 
straint  within  the  limitations  they  fix,  that  we  can  furnish 
proof  to  the  world  of  the  fitness  of  the  American  people  for 
self-government. 

The  equal  and  exact  justice  of  which  we  boast,  as  the  under 
lying  principle  of  our  institutions,  should  not  be  confined  to  the 
relations  of  our  citizens  to  each  other.  The  government 
itself  is  under  bond  to  the  American  people  that,  in  the  exer 
cise  of  its  functions  and  powers,  it  will  deal  with  the  body  of 
our  citizens  in  a  manner  scrupulously  honest  and  fair,  and  ab 
solutely  just.  It  has  agreed  that  American  citizenship  shall  be 
the  only  credential  necessary  to  justify  the  claim  of  equality 
before  the  law.  and  that  no  condition  in  life  shall  give  rise  to 
discrimination  in  the  treatment  of  the  people  by  their  govern 


ment. 


The  citizen  of  our  republic  in  its  early  days  rigidly  insisted 
upon  full  compliance  with  the  letter  of  this  bond,  and  saw 
stretching  out  before  him  a  clear  field  for  individual  endeavor. 
His  tribute  to  the  support  of  his  government  was  measured 
by  the  cost  of  its  economical  maintenance,  and  he  was  secure 
in  the  enjoyment  of  the  remaining  recompense  of  his  steady 
and  contented  toil.  In  those  days  the  frugality  of  the  people 
was  stamped  upon  their  government,  and  was  enforced  by  the 


TAXATION  AND  REVENUE.  91 

free  thoughtful,  and  intelligent  suffrage  of  the  citizen.  Corn- 
binations'monopolies,  and  aggregations  of  capital  were  either 
avoided  or  sternly  regulated  and  restrained.  The  pomp  and 
glitter  of  governments  less  free  offered  no  temptation  and 
presented  no  delusion  to  the  plain  people,  who,  side  by  side,  in 
friendly  competition,  wrought  for  the  ennoblement  and  dignity 
of  man,  for  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  free  government, 
and  for' the  achievement  of  the  grand  destiny  awaiting  the  land 
which  God  had  given  them. 

A  century  has  passed.  Our  cities  are  the  abiding-places  of 
wealth  and  luxury  ;  our  manufactories  yield  fortunes  never 
dreamed  of  by  the  fathers  of  the  republic  ;  our  business  men 
are  madly  striving  in  the  race  for  riches,  and  immense  aggre 
gations  of  capital  outrun  the  imagination  in  the  magnitude  of 
their  undertakings. 

We  view  with  pride  and  satisfaction  this  bright  picture 
our  country's  growth  and  prosperity,  while  only  a  closer  scru 
tiny  develops  a  somber  shading.  Upon  more  careful  inspection 
we  find  the  wealth  and  luxury  of  our  cities  mingled  with 
poverty  and  wretchedness  and  unremunerative  toil.  A  crowded 
and  constantly  increasing  urban  population  suggests  the  im 
poverishment  of  rural  sections,  and  discontent  with  agricultural 
pursuits.  The  farmer's  jjon,  not  satisfied  with  his  father's 
simple  and  laborious  life,  joins  the  eager  chase  for  easily 
acquired  wealth. 

We  discover  that  the  fortunes  realized  by  our  manufacturers 
are  no  longer  solely  the  reward  of  sturdy  industry  and  en 
lightened  foresight,  but  that  they  result  from  the  discrimi 
nating  favor  of  the  government,  and  are  largely  built  upon 
undue  exactions  from  the  masses  of  our  people.  The  gulf 
between  employers  and  the  employed  is  constantly  widening, 
and  classes  are  rapidly  forming,  one  comprising  the  very  rich 
and  powerful,  while  in  another  are  found  the  toiling  poor. 

As  we  view  the  achievements  of  aggregated  capital,  we  dis 
cover  the  existence  of  trusts,  combinations,  and  monopolies, 
while  the  citizen  is  struggling  far  in  the  rear,  or  is  trampled  to 


92  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

death  beneath  an  iron  heel.  Corporations,  which  should  be 
carefully  restrained  creatures  of  the  law  and  the  servants  of 
the  people,  are  fast  becoming  the  people's  masters. 

Still,  congratulating  ourselves  upon  the  wealth  and  prosperity 
of  our  country,  and  complacently  contemplating  every  incident 
of  change  inseparable  from  these  conditions,  it  is  our'duty  as 
patriotic  citizens  to  inquire,  at  the  present  stage  of  our  progress, 
how  the  bond  of  the  government,  made  with  the  people,  has 
been  kept  and  performed. 

Instead  of  limiting  the  tribute  drawn  from  our  citizens  to 
the  necessitiesof  its  economical  administration,  the  government 
persists  in  exacting,  from  the  substance  of  the  people,  millions, 
which,  unapplied  and  useless,  lie  dormant  in  its  treasury.' 
This  flagrant  injustice,  and  this  breach  of  faith  and  obligation^ 
add  to  extortion  the  danger  attending  the  diversion  of  the  cur 
rency  of  the  country  from  the  legitimate  channels  of  business. 
Under  the  same  laws  by  which  these  results  are  produced, 
the  government  permits  many  millions  more  to  be  added  to  the 
cost  of  the  living  of  our  people,  and  to  be  taken  from  our  con 
sumers,  which  unreasonably  swell  the  profits  of  a  small,  but 
powerful  minority. 

The  people  must  still  be  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  gov 
ernment  under  the  operation  of  tariff  laws.  But,  to  the  extent 
that  the  mass  of  our  citizens  are  inordinately  burdened  beyond 
any  useful  public  purpose  and  for  the  benefit  of  a  favored  few, 
the  government,  under  pretext  of  an  exercise  of  its  taxing 
power, enters  gratuitously  into  partnership  with  these  favorites" 
to  their  advantage  and  to  the  injury  of  a  vast  majority  of  our 
people. 

This  is  not  equality  before  the  law. 

The  existing  situation  is  injurious  to  the  health  of  our  entire 
body  politic.  It  stifles,  in  those  for  whose  benefit  it  is  per 
mitted,  all  patriotic  love  of  country,  and  substitutes  in  its  place 
selfish  greed  and  grasping  avarice.  Devotion  to  American  cit 
izenship  for  its  own  sake  and  for  what  it  should  accomplish  as 
a  motive  to  our  nation's  advancement  and  the  happiness  of  all 


TAXATION  AND  REVENUE.  93 

our  people,  is  displaced  by  the  assumption  that  the  government, 
instead  of  being  the  embodiment  of  equality,  is  but  an  instru 
mentality  through  which  especial  and  individual  advantages  are 
to  be  gained. 

The  arrogance  of  this  assumption  is  unconcealed.  It  appears 
in  the  sordid  disregard  of  all  but  personal  interests,  in  the  re 
fusal  to  abate  for  the  benefit  of  others  one  iota  of  selfish  ad 
vantage,  and  in  combinations  to  perpetuate  such  advantages 
through  efforts  to  control  legislation  and  influence  improperly 
the  suffrages  of  the  people. 

The  grievances  of  those  not  included  within  the  circle  of 
these  beneficiaries,  when  fully  realized,  will  surely  arouse 
irritation  and  discontent.  Our  farmers,  long-suffering  and 
patient,  struggling  in  the  race  of  life  with  the  hardest  and  most 
unremitting  toil,  will  not  fail  to  see,  in  spite  of  misrepresenta 
tions  and  misleading  fallacies,  that  they  are  obliged  to  accept 
such  prices  for  their  products  as  are  fixed  in  foreign  markets, 
where  they  compete  with  the  farmers  of  the  world  ;  that  their 
lands  are  declining  in  value  while  their  debts  increase  ;  and 
that,  without  compensating  favor,  they  are  forced  by  the  action 
of  the  government  to  pay,  for  the  benefit  of  others,  such  en 
hanced  prices  for  the  things  they  need  that  the  scanty  returns 
of  their  labor  fail  to  furnish  their  support,  or  leave  no  margin 
for  accumulation. 

Our  workingmen,  enfranchised  from  all  delusions  and  no 
longer  frightened  by  the  cry  that  their  wages  are  endangered 
by  a  just  revision  of  our  tariff  laws,  will  reasonably  demand 
through  such  revision  steadier  employment,  cheaper  means  of 
living  in  their  homes,  freedom  for  themselves  and  their  children 
from  the  doom  of  perpetual  servitude,  and  an  open  door  to 
their  advancement  beyond  the  limits  of  a  laboring  class.  Oth 
ers  of  our  citizens  whose  comforts  and  expenditures  are  meas 
ured  by  moderate  salaries  and  fixed  incomes,  will  insist  upon 
the  fairness  and  justice  of  cheapening  the  cost  of  necessaries 
for  themselves  and  their  families. 

When  to  the  selfishness  of  the  beneficiaries   of  unjust  dis- 


94  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

crimination  under  our  laws  there  shall  be  added  the  discontent 
of  those  who  suffer  from  such  discrimination,  we  will  realize 
the  fact  that  the  beneficent  purposes  of  our  government,  de 
pendent  upon  the  patriotism  and  contentment  of  our  people, 
are  endangered. 

Communism  is  a  hateful  thing,  and  a  menace  to  peace  and 
organized  government.  But  the  communism  of  combined 
wealth  and  capital,  the  outgrowth  of  overweening  cupidity 
and  selfishness,  which  insidiously  undermines  the  justice  and 
integrity  of  free  institutions  is  not  less  dangerous  than  the 
communism  of  oppressed  poverty  and  toil  which,  exasperated 
by  injustice  and  discontent,  attacks  with  wild  disorder  the 
citadel  of  rule. 

He  mocks  the  people  who  proposes  that  the  government 
shall  protect  the  rich  and  that  they  in  turn  will  care  for  the 
laboring  poor.  Any  intermediary  between  the  people  and 
their  government,  or  the  least  delegation  of  the  care  and  pro 
tection  the  government  owes  to  the  humblest  citizen  in  the 
land,  makes  the  boast  of  free  institutions  a  glittering  delusion 
and  the  pretended  boon  of  American  citizenship  a  shameless 
imposition. 

A  just  and  sensible  revision  of  our  tariff  laws  should  be 
made  for  the  relief  of  those  of  our  countrymen  who  suffer 
under  present  conditions.  Such  a  revision  should  receive  the 
support  of  all  who  love  that  justice  and  equality  due  to  Amer 
ican  citizenship  ;  of  all  who  realize  that  in  this  justice  and 
equality  our  government  finds  its  strength  and  its  power  to 
protect  the  citizen  and  his  property  ;  of  all  who  believe  that 
the  contented  competence  and  comfort  of  many  accord  better 
with  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  than  colossal  fortunes  un 
fairly  gathered  in  the  hands  of  a  few  ;  of  all  who  appreciate 
that  the  forbearance  and  fraternity  among  our  people,  which 
recognize  the  value  of  every  American  interest,  are  the  surest 
guarantee  of  our  national  progress,  and  of  all  who  desire  to  see 
the  products  of  American  skill  and  ingenuity  in  every  market  of 
the  world  with  a  resulting  restoration  of  American  commerce. 


TAXATION  AND  REVENUE.  95 

The  necessity  of  the  reduction  of  our  revenue  is  so  apparent 
as  to  be  generally  conceded.  But  the  means  by  which  this 
end  shall  be  accomplished,  and  the  sum  of  direct  benefit  which 
shall  result  to  our  citizens,  present  a  controversy  of  the  utmost 
importance.  There  should  be  no  scheme  accepted  as  satisfac 
tory  by  which  the  burdens  of  the  people  are  only  apparently 
removed.  Extravagant  appropriations  of  public  money,  with 
all  their  demoralizing  consequences,  should  not  be  tolerated, 
either  as  a  means  of  relieving  the  treasury  of  its  present  sur 
plus  or  as  furnishing  pretexts  for  resisting  a  proper  reduction 
in  tariff  rates.  Existing  evils  and  injustice  should  be  honestly 
recognized,  boldly  met,  and  effectively  remedied.  There 
should  be  no  cessation  of  the  struggle  until  a  plan  is  perfected, 
fair  and  conservative  toward  existing  industries,  but  which 
will  reduce  the  cost  to  consumers  of  the  necessaries  of  life, 
while  it  provides  for  our  manufacturers  the  advantage  of 
freer  raw  materials  and  permits  no  injury  to  the  interests  of 
American  labor. 

The  cause  for  which  the  battle  is  waged  is  comprised  within 
lines  clearly  and  distinctly  defined.  It  should  never  be  com 
promised.  It  is  the  people's  cause. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  selfish  and  private  interests, 
which  are  so  persistently  heard  when  efforts  are  made  to  deal 
in  a  just  and  comprehensive  manner  with  our  tariff  laws,  are 
related  to,  if  they  are  not  responsible  for,  the  sentiment  largely 
prevailing  among  the  people  that  the  general  government  is 
the  fountain  of  individual  and  private  aid  ;  that  it  may  be  ex 
pected  to  relieve  with  paternal  care  the  distress  of  citizens 
and  communities,  and  that  from  the  fullness  of  its  treasury  it 
should,  upon  the  slightest  possible  pretext  of  promoting  the 
general  good,  apply  public  funds  to  the  benefit  of  localities 
and  individuals.  Nor  can  it  be  denied  that  there  is  a  growing 
assumption  that,  as  against  the  government  and  in  favor  of 
private  claims  and  interests,  the  usual  rules  and  limitations  of 
business  principles  and  just  dealing  should  be  waived. 

These  ideas   have   been,  unhappily,  much  encouraged   by 


96  TAXATION  AND  REVENUE. 

legislative  acquiescence.  Relief  from  contracts  made  with  the 
government  is  too  easily  accorded  in  favor  of  the  citizen  ;  the 
failure  to  support  claims  against  the  government  by  proof  is 
often  supplied  by  no  better  consideration  than  the  wealth  of 
the  government  and  the  poverty  of  the  claimant  ;  gratuities 
in  the  form  of  pensions  are  granted  upon  no  other  real  ground 
than  the  needy  condition  of  the  applicant,  or  for  reasons  less 
valid  ;  and  large  sums  are  expended,  for  public  buildings  and 
)ther  improvements,  upon  representations  scarcely  claimed  to 
be  related  to  public  needs  and  necessities. 

The  extent  to  which  the  consideration  of  such  matters  sub 
ordinates  and  postpones  action  upon  subjects  of  great  public 
importance,  but  involving  no  special,  private,  or  partisan 
interest,  should  arrest  attention  and  lead  to  reformation. 

A  few  of  the  numerous  illustrations  of  this  condition  niav  be 
stated. 

The  crowded  condition  of  the  calendar  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  and  the  delay  to  suitors  and  denial  of  justice  resulting 
therefrom,  have  been  strongly  urged  upon  the  attention  of  the 
Congress,  with  a  plan  for  the  relief  of  the  situation  approved 
by  those  well  able  to  judge  of  its  merits.  While  this  subject 
remains  without  effective  consideration,  many  laws  have  been 
passed  providing  for  the  holding  of  terms  of  inferior  court  at 
places  to  suit  the  convenience  of  localities,  or  to  lay  the  foun 
dation  of  an  application  for  the  erection  of  a  new  public 
building. 

Repeated  recommendations  have  been  submitted  for  the 
amendment  and  change  of  the  laws  relating  to  our  public 
lands,  so  that  their  spoliation  and  diversion  to  other  uses  than 
as  homes  for  honest  settlers  might  be  prevented.  While  a 
measure  to  meet  this  conceded  necessity  of  reform  remains 
awaiting  the  action  of  the  Congress,  many  claims  to  the  pub 
lic  lands  and  applications  for  their  donation,  in  favor  of  States 
and  individuals,  have  been  allowed. 

A  plan  in  aid  of  Indian  management,  recommended  by 
those  well  informed  as  containing  valuable  features  in  further- 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  97 

ance  of  the  solution  of  the  Indian  problem,  has  thus  far  failed 
of  legislative  sanction,  while  grants  of  doubtful  expediency  to 
railroad  corporations,  permitting  them  to  pass  through  Indian 
reservations,  have  greatly  multiplied. 

The  propriety  and  necessity  of  the  erection  of  one  or  more 
prisons  for  the  confinement  of  United  States  convicts,  and  a 
post-office  building  in  the  national  capital,  are  not  disputed. 
Hut  these  needs  yet  remain  unanswered,  while  scores  of  pub 
lic  buildings  have  been  erected  where  their  necessity  for 
public  purposes  is  not  apparent. 

A  revision  of  our  pension  laws  could  easily  be  made,  which 
would  rest  upon  just  principles  and  provide  for  every  worthy 
applicant.  But,  while  our  general  pension  laws  remain  con 
fused  and  imperfect,  hundreds  of  private  pension  laws  are 
annually  passed  which  are  the  sources  of  unjust  discrimination 
and  popular  demoralization. 

Appropriation  bills  for  the  support  of  the  government  are 
defaced  by  items  and  provisions  to  meet  private  ends,  and  it 
is  freely  asserted  by  responsible  and  experienced  parties  that 
a  bill  appropriating  money  for  public  internal  improvement 
would  fail  to  meet  with  favor  unless  it  contained  items  more 
for  local  and  private  advantage  than  for  public  benefit. 

These  statements  can  be  much  emphasized  by  an  ascer 
tainment  of  the  proportion  of  Federal  legislation  which  either 
bears  upon  its  face  its  private  character  or  which,  upon  exam 
ination,  develops  such  a  motive  power. 

And  yet  the  people  wait,  and  expect  from  their  chosen  repre 
sentatives  such  patriotic  action  as  will  advance  the  welfare  of 
the  entire  country  ;  and  this  expectation  can  only  be  answered 
by  the  performance  of  public  duty  with  unselfish  purpose. 
Our  mission  among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  our  success 
in  accomplishing  the  work  God  has  given  the  American  people 
to  do,  require  of  those  intrusted  with  the  making  and  execu 
tion  of  our  laws  perfect  devotion,  above  all  other  things,  to  the 
public  good. 

This  devotion  will  lead  us  to  resist  strongly  all  impatience 


98  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

of  constitutional  limitations  of  Federal  power,  and  to  check  per- 
sistently  the  increasing  tendency  to  extend  the  scope  of  Fed, 
eral  legislation  into  the  domain  of  State  and  local  jurisdiction, 
upon  the  plea  of  subserving  the  public  welfare.  The  preser 
vation  of  the  partitions  between  proper  subjects  of  Federal 
and  local  care  and  regulation  is  of  such  importance  under 
the  Constitution,  which  is  the  law  of  our  very  existence,  that 
no  consideration  of  expediency  or  sentiment  should  tempt  us 
to  enter  upon  doubtful  ground.  We  have  undertaken  to  dis 
cover  and  proclaim  the  richest  blessings  of  a  free  government, 
with  the  Constitution  as  our  guide.  Let  us  follow  the  way  it 
points  out.  It  will  not  mislead  us.  And  surely  no  one  who 
has  taken  upon  himself  the  solemn  obligation  to  support  and 
preserve  the  Constitution  can-  find  justification  or  solace  for 
disloyalty  in  the  excuse  that  he  wandered  and  disobeyed  in 
search  of  a  better  way  to  reach  the  public  welfare  than  the 
Constitution  offers. 

What  has  been  said  is  deemed  not  inappropriate  at  a  time 
when,  from  a  century's  height,  we  view  the  way  already  trod 
by  the  American  people,  and  attempt  to  discover  their  future 
path. 

The  seventh  President  of  the  United  States— the  soldier  and 
statesman,  and  at  all  times  the  firm  and  brave  friend  of  the 
people— in  vindication  of  his  course  as  the  protector  of  popular 
rights,  and  the  champion  of  true  American  citizenship,  declared: 

The  ambition  which  leads  me  on  is  an  anxious  desire  and  a  fixed  deter 
mination  to  restore  to  the  people,  unimpaired,  the  sacred  trust  they  have 
confided  to  my  charge  ;  to  heal  the  wounds  of  the  Constitution  and  to  pre 
serve  it  from  further  violation  ;  to  persuade  my  countrymen,  so  far  as  I  may, 
that  it  is  not  in  a  splendid  government  supported  by  powerful  monopolies 
and  anstocratical  establishments  that  they  will  find  happiness,  or  their  liber 
ties  protection,  but  in  a  plain  system,  void  of  pomp— protecting  all  and  grant 
ing  favors  to  none— dispensing  its  blessings  like  the  dews  of  heaven,  un 
seen  and  unfelt  save  in  the  freshness  and  beauty  they  contribute  to  'pro 
duce.  It  is  such  a  government  that  the  genius  of  our  people  requires— such 
an  one  only  under  which  our  States  may  remain,  for  ages  to  come,  united, 
prosperous,  and  free. 


TAXATION  AND  REVENUE.  99 

IX. 
To  the  Massachusetts  Tariff  Reform  League. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  December  24,  1888. 
MESSRS.  SHERMAN,  HOAR,  AND  OTHERS,  Committee: 

GENTLEMEN  :  I  am  exceedingly  sorry  that  I  cannot  be  pres 
ent  at  the  dinner  of  the  Massachusetts  Tariff  Reform  League 
on  the  28th  instant.  This  is  not  merely  a  formal  and  common 
expression  of  regret  ;  it  truly  indicates  how  much  I  should  en 
joy  meeting  the  members  of  your  league,  and  how  glad  1 
should  be  to  express  in  person  my  appreciation  of  their  im 
portant  services  in  a  cause  to  which  I  am  earnestly  attached, 
and  to  acknowledge  at  the  same  time  their  frequent  and  en 
couraging  manifestations  of  personal  friendliness.  I  know, 
too,  that  it  would  be  profitable  and  advantageous  to  be,  even 
for  a  brief  period,  within  the  inspiring  influence  of  the  atmos 
phere  surrounding  patriotic  and  unselfish  men,  banded  together 
in  the  interests  of  their  fellow-countrymen,  and  devoted  to  the 
work  of  tariff  reform. 

This  reform  appears  to  me  to  be  as  far-reaching  in  its  pur 
poses  as  the  destiny  of  our  country,  and  as  broad  in  its  benefi 
cence  as  the  welfare  of  our  entire  people.  It  is  because  the 
efforts  of  its  advocates  are  not  discredited  by  any  sordid  mo 
tives  that  they  are  able  boldly  and  confidently  to  attack  the 
strongholds  of  selfishness  and  greed.  Our  institutions  were 
constructed  in  purity  of  purpose  and  love  for  humanity.  Their 
operation  is  adjusted  to  the  touch  of  national  virtue  and 
patriotism,  and  their  results,  under  such  guidance,  must  be  the 
prosperity  and  happiness  of  our  people  ;  and  so  long  as  the 
advocates  of  tariff  reform  appreciate  the  sentiments  in  which 
our  institutions  had  their  origin,  so  long  as  they  apprehend 
the  sources  which  alone  can  guide  their  operations,  so  long  as 
they,  in  a  spirit  of  true  patriotism,  are  consecrated  to  the  serv 
ice  of  their  country,  temporary  defeat  brings  no  discourage 
ment.  It  but  proves  the  stubbornness  of  the  forces  of  com- 


100  TAXATION  AND   REVENUE. 

bined  selfishness,  and  discloses  how  far  the  people  have  been 
led  astray  and  how  great  is  the  necessity  of  redoubled  efforts 
in  their  behalf.  To  lose  faith  in  the  intelligence  of  the  people 
is  a  surrender  and  an  abandonment  of  the  struggle.  To  arouse 
their  intelligence,  and  free  it  from  darkness  and  delusion,  gives 
assurance  of  speedy  and  complete  victory. 

In  the  track  of  reform  are  often  found  the  dead  hopes  of 
pioneers  and  the  despair  of  those  who  fall  in  the  march.  But 
there  will  be  neither  despair  nor  dead  hopes  in  the  path  of 
tariff  reform  ;  nor  shall  its  pioneers  fail  to  reach  the  heights. 
Holding  fast  their  faith,  and  rejecting  every  alluring  overture 
and  every  deceptive  compromise  which  would  betray  their 
sacred  trust,  they  themselves  shall  regain  and  restore  the 
patrimony  of  their  countrymen,  freed  from  the  trespass  of 
grasping  encroachment  and  safely  secured  by  the  genius  of 
American  justice  and  equality. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


X. 

To  the  Indiana  Tariff  Reform  League. 

NEW  YORK,  February   15,   1890. 
EDGAR  A.  BROWN,   ESQ.,  President. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  Though  my  letters  to  Democratic  and 
tariff  reform  assemblages  have  lately  been  very  frequent,  I 
cannot  deny  your  request  to  say  a  word  of  encouragement  to 
the  tariff  reformers  who  will  meet  at  the  first  annual  conven 
tion  of  the  Indiana  Tariff  Reform  League  on  the  4th  of 
March. 

I  am  very  much  pleased  with  the  plan  upon  which  your 
league  seems  to  be  organized.  It  conveys  a  suggestion  of 
practical  work  in  the  field  of  information  and  enlightenment. 
This,  if  persistently  carried  out,  cannot  fail  of  success.  Of 
course,  we  do  not  approach  the  American  people,  assuming 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  IQ1 

that  they  are  ignorant  or  unpatriotic.  But  we  know  that 
they  are  busy  people  and  apt  to  neglect  the  study  of 
public  questions.  In  the  engrossment  of  their  daily  avoca 
tions,  they  are  too  ready  to  rely  upon  the  judgment  and 
avowed  principles  of  the  party  with  which  they  have  affiliated 
as  guides  to  their  political  actions.  In  this  way  they  have  be 
come  slow  to  examine  for  themselves  the  questions  of  tariff  re 
form.  If,  in  the  lights  of  reasonable  and  simple  arguments 
and  of  such  object-lessons  as  are  being  constantly  placed  be 
fore  them,  our  people  can  be  induced  to  investigate  the  sub 
jects,  there  need  be  no  fear  as  to  their  conclusion. 

The  Democratic  party— as  the  party  of  the  people,  opposed  to 
selfish  schemes,  which  ignore  the  public  good,  and  pledged  to  the 
interests  of  all  their  countrymen  instead  of  furtherance  of  the  in 
terests  of  the  few  who  seek  to  pervert  governmental  powers  for 
their  enrichment — was  never  nearer  to  its  fundamental  princi 
ples  than  it  was  in  its  contests  for  tariff  reform. 

It  certainly  adds  to  the  satisfaction  with  which  we  labor  in 
this  cause  to  be  assured  that  in  our  efforts  we  not  only  serve 
our  party,  but*  all  the  people  of  the  land. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


XL 

To  the  Tariff  Reform  Club,  Hagerstown,  Md. 

NEW  YORK,  April  29,  1890. 
HENRY  KYD  DOUGLASS,  ESQ. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  thank  you  for  your  invitation  to  attend 
the  meeting  on  the  2cl  day  of  May  which  inaugurates  a  tariff 
reform  club  at  Hagerstown.  I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot  be  with 
you  on  this  interesting  occasion,  which  is  to  give  birth  to 
another  of  those  agencies  whose  mission  it  is  to  rouse  to 
practical  thought  and  activity.  Those  who  propose  to  juggle 
with  the  question  of  tariff  reform  will  never  again  find  their  in- 


102  TAXATION  AND  REVENUE. 

tended  dupes  asleep  and  uninformed.  The  people  shall  know  the 
merits  of  this  question,  and  shall  know,  too,  that  its  fair  and 
honest  adjustment  greatly  concerns  them. 

With  such  a  mission,  and  in  the  enforcement  of  such  a  prin 
ciple,  it  is  a  glorious  thing  to  be  a  true  Democrat  in  these  days. 
The  zeal  and  enthusiasm  which  at  this  time  prevail  in  our 
party  demonstrate  that  Democracy  is  never  in  a  more  con 
genial  element  than  when  it  battles  for  a  principle  which  in 
volves  the  real  welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  people.  I  hope 
that  your  meeting  will  be  a  great  success,  and  that  your  Tariff 
Reform  Club  will  never  falter  in  usefulness  and  efficiency. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

XII. 

To  the  Kensington  Reform  Club,  Philadelphia. 

NEW  YORK,  May  9,  1890. 
F.  A.  HERWIG,  President. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  desire  through  you  to  thank  the  Kensing 
ton  Reform  Club,  formerly  known  as  the  Workingmen's  Tariff 
Reform  Association,  for  the  courteous  invitation  I  have  received 
to  attend  a  mass  meeting  on  the  evening  of  the  3d  of  June. 

The  terms  in  which  the  invitation  is  expressed  convince  me 
that  the  question  of  tariff  reform  is  receiving  the  attention  it 
deserves  from  those  most  vitally  interested  in  its  just  and 
fak  solution.  I  know  that,  with  the  feeling  now  abroad  in  our 
land  and  with  the  intense  existence  and  activity  of  such  clubs 
as  yours,  the  claim,  presumptuously  made,  that  the  people  at  the 
last  election  finally  passed  upon  the  subject  of  tariff  adjust 
ment  will  be  emphatically  denied  ;  that  our  workingmen  and 
our  farmers  will  continue  to  agitate  this  and  all  other  questions 
involving  their  welfare  with  increased  zeal,  and  in  the  light  of 
increased  knowledge  and  experience,  until  they  are  determined 
finally  and  in  accordance  with  the  American  sentiment  of  fair 
play. 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  IO3 

I  use  no  idle  form  of  words  when  I  say  that  1  regret  my  en 
gagements  and  professional  occupations  will  not  permit  me  to 
meet  the  members  of  your  club  on  the  occasion  of  their  mass 
meeting  Hoping  that  those  who  are  fortunate  enough  to 
participate  will  find  it  to  their  profit,  and  that  the  meeting 
will  in  all  respects  be  a  great  success, 

I  am,  yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


XIII. 

To  the  President  of  the  Custom  Cutters  National  Convention. 

NEW  YORK,  January  20,  1891. 

G.  H.  HUNTOON,  ESQ. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  thank  you  for  sending  me  your  address  made 
at  the  convention  of  the  Custom  Foremen  Tailors'  Associa 
tion,  and  I  have  read  the  same  with  interest. 

The  question  of  tariff  reform  directly  affects  all  the  people  of 
the  land  in  a  substantial  way,  and  they  ought  to  be  interested 
in  its  discussion.  I  am  afraid  that  a  great  many  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  are  too  apt  to  regard  this  as  a  political  question,  intri 
cate  and  complex,  affecting  them  in  a  remote  way,  and  one 
which  may  well  enough  be  left  for  politicians  to  wrangle  over. 
This  induces  a  neglect  of  the  subject  on  the  part  of  a  great 
number  of  our  people  and  a  willingness  to  follow  blindly  the 
party  to  which  they  happen  to  belong  in  their  action  upon  it 

It  is  a  good  sign  to  see  practical  men,  such  as  belong  t 
your  association,  discussing  the  question   tor  themselves, 
this  is  done  intelligently,  and  with  sincere  intent  to  secure  the 
truth,  tariff  reformers,  I  think,  have  no  need  to  fear  the  res 

of  such  discussions. 

Very  truly  yours, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


I04  TAXATION  AND  REVENUE. 

XIV. 
To  the  Tariff  Reform  Club,  Montdair,  N.  J. 

NEW  YORK,  February  3,  1891. 
ALEXANDER  D.  NOYES,  ESQ. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  received  the  invitation  you  sent  me  to 
attend  a  dinner  given  by  the  Tariff  Reform  Club  of  Montclair, 
N.  J.,  on  the  6th  instant,  and  I  regret  that  my  engagements 
are  such  that  I  cannot  accept  the  same. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  note  the  growth  of  Democratic 
sentiments  and  strength  in  my  native  county,  and  to  know 
that  the  cause  of  tariff  reform  has  commended  itself  to  the 
voters  of  the  Sixth  Congressional  District.  These  circum 
stances  furnish  exceptional  persuasion  to  an  invitation  to  meet 
those  who,  by  organized  effort,  are  pushing  on  the  good  work 
in  the  county  where  I  was  born. 

Nothing  can  excuse  the  Democratic  party  if,  at  this  time,  it 
permits  the  neglect  or  subordination  of  the  question  of  tariff 
reform.  In  the  first  place,  the  principle  involved  is  plainly 
and  unalterably  right.  This,  of  itself,  should  be  sufficient 
reason  for  constant  activity  in  its  behalf.  Secondly,  we  have 
aroused  a  spirit  of  inquiry  among  our  countrymen  which  it  is 
our  duty  to  satisfy ;  and  finally,  there  may  be  added  to  these 
considerations  the  promise  of  success  held  out  to  the  party 
which  honestly  perseveres  in  the  propagandist!!  of  sound  and 
true  political  principles. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

XV. 

To  the  Indiana  Tariff  Reform  League,  ATarch,  1891. 

You  will  not,  I  hope,  think  it  amiss  if  I  suggest  the  neces 
sity  of  pushing,  with  more  vigor  than  ever,  the  doctrine  of  your 
organization.  I  believe  that  the  theories  and  practices  which 
tariff  reform  antagonizes  are  responsible  for  many,  if  not  all, 


TAXATION  AND   REVENUE.  i°5 

of  the  evils  which  afflict  our  people.  If  there  is  a  scarcity  of 
the  circulating  medium,  is  not  the  experiment  worth  trying  as 
a  remedy,  of  leaving  in  the  hands  of  the  people,  and  for  their 
use,  the  money  which  is  needlessly  taken  from  them  under  the 
pretext  of  necessary  taxation  ?  If  the  farmer's  lot  is  a  hard 
one,  in  his  discouraging  struggle  for  better  rewards  of  his  toil, 
are  the  prices  of  his  products  to  be  improved  by  the  policy 
which  hampers  trade  in  his  best  markets  and  invites  the  com 
petition  of  dangerous  rivals  ? 

Whether  other  means  of  relief  may  appear  necessary  to  re 
lieve  present  hardships,  I  believe  the  principle  of  tariff  reform 
promises  a  most  important  aid  in  their  rectification,  and  that 
the  continued  and  earnest  advocacy  of  this  principle  is  essen 
tial  to  the  lightening  of  the  burdens  of  our  countrymen. 

Hoping  that  your  organization  may  continue  to  be  one  of 
great  usefulness  and  encouragement. 

I  am,  yours  very  respectfully, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


XVI. 

To  the  Young  Men's  Democratic  Club,  Canton,  O. 

NEW  YORK,  November  27,  1891. 
CHAS.  KRICHBAUM,  ESQ.,  President,  etc. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  attend  the  meeting 
to  be  held  at  Canton  on  the  evening  of  the  3d  of  December, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Young  Men's  Democratic  Club. 

The  value  and  significance  of  this  occasion,  it  seems  to  me, 
are  found  in  the  evidence  it  furnishes  of  a  determination  to 
push  the  issue  of  tariff  reform  in  a  practical  and  effective 
manner.  It  is  the  duty  of  the  Democratic  party  to  do  this  ; 
and  expediency,  as  well  as  duty,  forbids  any  backward  step  or 
faltering. 

No  party  can  succeed  which  deliberately  relinquishes  a 
principle  on  the  eve  of  its  vindication  ;  and  no  party  ought  to 


106  TAXATION  AND  REVENUE. 

succeed,  which,  having  led  honest  men  to  the  examination  of  a 
question  vital  to  their  interest  and  welfare,  abandons  their 
guidance  and  leaves  them  in  unhappy  doubt  and  perplexity. 

The  confidence  born  of  mutual  congratulation  over  partial 
success,  and  the  assertion  of  the  claims  of  any  individual  to 
pre-eminence  or  leadership,  ought  not  to  divert  us  from  the  duty 
we  owe  to  the  people.  Our  obligations,  then,  will  not  be  dis 
charged,  until,  in  every  hamlet  and  neighborhood  throughout 
the  land,  our  cause  is  so  presented  to  our  countrymen  that 
they  can  no  longer  be  deceived  through  blindness  nor  cor 
rupted  through  indifference. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  V. 

CENTENNIAL    AND    ANNIVERSARY    CELEBRATIONS. 
I. 

At  the  Scmi-Centennial  of  the  City  of  Buffalo,  July  3,  1882. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  OUGHT,  perhaps,  to  be  quite  content  on  this  occasion  to  as 
sume  the  part  of  quiet  gratification.  But  I  cannot  forbear  ex 
pressing  my  satisfaction  at  being  allowed  to  participate  in  the 
exercises  of  the  evening,  and  I  feel  that  I  must  give  token  of 
the  pleasure  I  experience  in  gazing  with  you  upon  the  fair 
face  of  our  Queen  City  at  the  age  of  fifty.  I  am  proud,  with 
you,  in  contrasting  what  seem  to  us  the  small  things  of  fifty 
years  ago,  with  the  beauty,  and  the  greatness,  and  the  impor 
tance  of  to-day.  The  achievements  of  the  past  are  gained  ; 
the  prosperity  of  the  present  we  hold  with  a  firm  hand  ;  and 
the  promise  of  the  future  comes  to  us  with  no  uncertain  sound. 
It  seems  to  me  to-day  that  of  all  men  the  resident  of  Buffalo 
should  be  the  proudest  to  name  his  home. 

In  the  history  of  a  city,  fifty  years  but  marks  the  period  of 
youth,  when  all  is  fresh  and  joyous.  The  face  is  fair,  the  step 
is  light,  and  the  burden  of  life  is  carried  with  a  song  ;  the 
future,  stretching  far  ahead,  is  full  of  bright  anticipations,  and 
the  past,  with  whatever  of  struggle  and  disappointment  there 
may  have  been,  seems  short,  and  is  half  forgotten.  In  this 
heyday  of  our  city's  life,  we  do  well  to  exchange  our  congrat 
ulations,  and  to  revel  together  in  the  assurances  of  the  happy 
and  prosperous  future  that  awaits  us. 

And  yet  I  do  not  deem  it  wrong  to  remind  myself  and  you 
that  our  city,  great  in  its  youth,  did  not  suddenly  spring  into 


108  CENTENNIAL  AND 

existence  clad  in  beauty  and  in  strength.  There  were  men 
fty  years  ago,  who  laid  its  foundations  broad  and  deep  ;  and 
who,  with  the  care  of  jealous  parents,  tended  it  and  wa'tched 
its  growth.  Those  early  times  were  not  without  their  trials 
and  discouragements  ;  and  we  reap  to-day  the  fruit  of  the 
labors  and  the  perseverance  of  those  pioneers.  Those  were 
the  fathers  of  the  city.  Where  are  they  ?  Fifty  years  added 
to  manhood  fill  the  cup  of  human  life.  Most  have  gone  to 
swell  the  census  of  God's  city,  which  lies  beyond  the  stream 
of  fate.  A  few  there  are  who  listlessly  linger  upon  the  bank, 
and  wait  to  cross,  in  the  shade  of  trees  they  have  planted  with 
their  own  hands.  Let  us  tenderly  remember  the  dead  to 
night,  and  let  us  renew  our  love  and  veneration  for  those  who 
are  spared  to  speak  to  us  of  the  scenes  attending  our  city's 
birth  and  infancy. 

And  in  this,  our  day  of  pride  and  self-gratulation,  there  is, 
I  think,  one  lesson  at  least  which  we  may  learn  from  the  men 
who  have  come  down  to  us  from  a  former  generation. 

In  the  day  of  the  infancy  of  the  city  which  they  founded, 
and  for  many  years  afterward,  the  people  loved  their  city  so 
well  that  they  would  only  trust  the  management  of  its  affairs 
in  the  strongest  and  best  of  hands  ;  and  no  man  in  those  days 
was  so  engrossed  in  his  own  business  but  he  could  find  some 
time  to  devote  to  public  concerns.  Read  the  names  of  the 
men  who  held  places  in  this  municipality  fifty  years  ago,  and 
food  for  reflection  will  be  found.  Is  it  true  that  the  city  ot 
to-day,  with  its  large  population  and  with  its  vast  and  varied 
interests,  needs  less  and  different  care  than  it  did  fifty  years 
ago  ? 

We  boast  of  our  citizenship  to-night.  But  this  citizenship 
brings  with  it  duties  not  unlike  those  we  owe  our  neighbor 
and  our  God.  There  is  no  better  time  than  this  for  self-exam 
ination.  He  who  deems  himself  too  pure  and  holy  to  take 
part  in  the  affairs  of  his  city,  will  meet  the  fact  that  better 
men  than  he  have  thought  it  their  duty  to  do  so.  He  who 
cannot  spare  a  moment,  in  his  greed  and  selfishness,  to  de- 


ANX1VKRSAR  Y   CELEBRA  TIONS.  109 

vote  to  public  concerns,  will,  perhaps,  find  a  well-grounded 
fear  that  he  may  become  the  prey  of  public  plunderers  ;  and 
he  who  indolently  cares  not  who  administers  the  government 
of  his  city,  will  find  that  he  is  living  falsely,  and  in  the  neg 
lect  of  his  highest  duty. 

When  our  centennial  shall  be  celebrated,  what  will  be  said 
of  us  ?  I  hope  it  may  be  said  that  we  built  and  wrought 
well,  and  added  much  to  the  substantial  prosperity  of  the 
city 'we  had  in  charge.  Brick  and  mortar  may  make  a  large 
city,  but  the  encouragement  of  those  things  which  elevate 
and'  purify,  the  exaction  of  the  highest  standard  of  integrity 
in  official  place,  and  a  constant,  active  interest  on  the  part 
of  the  good  people  in  municipal  government,  are  needed  to 
make  a  great  city. 

Let  it  be  said  of  us  when  only  our  names  and  memory 
are  left,  in  the  centennial  time,  that  we  faithfully  administered 
the  trust  which  we  received  from  our  fathers,  and  religiously 
performed  our  parts,  in  our  day  and  generation,  toward 
making  our  city  not  only  prosperous,  but  truly  great. 


II. 

Evacuation  Day  Celebration,  Neiv  York,  November  -26,  1883. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  CHAMBER  OF 
COMMERCE  : 

My  theme  is  too  great  for  me,  and  I  shall  not  attempt  to 
cover  it.  The  few  words  I  shall  speak  will  be  upon  a  topic 
which  makes  but  one  element  in  the  supremacy  of  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  I  fear  that  I  shall  treat  of  that  in  a  very  prac 
tical  and  perhaps  uninteresting  way. 

I  am  free  to  confess  that  I  am  somewhat  embarrassed  to 
night  by  my  surroundings.  Not  only  am  I  in  the  presence  of 
a  distinguished  company,  but  I  see  about  me  what  I  suppose 
to  be  the  guardians  of  the  commerce  of  the  State.  This  word 
"  commerce  "  sounds  very  large  to  me  ;  because,  whenever  I 


110  CE  N  TENNIA  L  A  ND 

have  heard  the  greatness  of  a  nation  or  a  State  spoken  of,  their 
commerce  has  been  dwelt  upon  as  a  chief  ingredient  or  factor 
in  such  greatness.  Here  is  the  gateway  of  the  commerce  of 
our  State  ;  and  while  the  uttermost  corner  of  our  domain  has 
felt  and  still  feels  its  healthful  influence,  the  tribute  it  has  paid 
in  passing  this  point  has  erected  one  of  the  largest  cities  in 
the  world,  and  created  many  colossal  fortunes.  I  suppose,  of 
course,  I  need  not  suggest  that  other  cities  and  other  States 
are  quite  willing  to  relieve  the  city  and  State  of  New  York  of 
a  part  or  all  of  the  commerce  thus  enjoyed  ;  and  I  doubt  not 
the  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  any  such  competitors  has 
received  due  care  and  attention. 

I  have  lately  seen  a  statement,  by  which  it  appears  that  for 
the  year  ending  August  31,  1882,  there  were  shipped  from 
New  Orleans  to  fifteen  foreign  ports  2,744,581  bushels  of 
wheat  and  639,342  bushels  of  corn.  This  was  transported  in 
sixty-one  steamers  and  two  sailing  vessels.  But  for  the  year 
ending  August  31,  1883,  there  were  shipped  from  the  same 
city  to  twenty-nine  foreign  ports  5,529,847  bushels  of  wheat 
and  7,161,168  bushels  of  corn,  and  this  was  transported  in  278 
steamers  and  twenty-four  sailing  vessels.  We  thus  find  an 
increase,  during  the  year  specified,  as  follows  :  Increase  in 
wheat,  2,785,266;  increase  in  corn,  6,521,826;  increase  in 
number  of  ports,  14  ;  increase  in  number  of  vessels,  239. 

I  expect  there  are  other  dangers  to  be  apprehended  from 
other  quarters,  which  may  threaten  the  perpetuity  and  volume 
of  New  York  commerce.  Is  there  care  enough  taken  to  have 
champions  of  this  all-important  interest  in  the  halls  of  legisla 
tion,  and  is  it  there  distinctively  enough  represented  ?  Bear  in 
mind  that  you  may  labor  and  toil,  in  the  whirl  and  excitement 
of  business,  to  build  new  warehouses,  and  add  to  the  city's 
wealth  and  to  your  own,  but  that,  while  you  thus  build,  igno 
rant,  negligent,  or  corrupt  men  among  your  lawmakers  can 
easily  and  stealthily  pull  down.  Political  duty  and  selfish  in 
terests  lead  in  the  same  direction,  and  a  neglect  of  this  duty 
will,  I  believe,  bring  a  sure  punishment. 

I  venture  the  opinion  that  the  commerce  of  your  port  should 


ANNIVERSARY  CELEBRATIONS.  HI 

be  free  from  the  annoying  burdens  and  taxation  to  which  it  is 
now  subjected,  and  yet  a  law  passed  by  the  last  legislature,  as 
a  partial  measure  of  relief,  failed  in  its  execution,  for  reasons, 
perhaps,  in  one  sense  commercial  in  their  character,  but  far 
removed  from  any  relations  to  the  commerce  of  the  port.  I 
hasten  to  disclaim  any  insinuation  that  there  are  legislators 
sent  from  here  who  are  not  faithful  to  this  great  interest  ;  but 
L  see  no  reason  why  they  should  not  all  be  of  that  kind,  nor 
why  the  commercial  interests  of  this  great  city  should  not  be 
more  regarded  in  their  selection. 

The  people  of  the  State  have  lately  taken  it  upon  themselves 
to  support  the  canals  from  funds  raised  by  taxation,  thus  free 
ing  one  branch  of  commerce  from  its  burden.  This  means 
much  to  the  farmer,  who,  by  hours  of  toil,  unknown  to  you, 
exacts  from  the  soil  barely  sufficient  to  live  and  educate  his 
children.  He  deems  the  advantage  of  a  free  canal  to  him  in 
direct  and  remote  ;  but  this  increased  taxation  he  must  meet. 
His  land  and  farm  buildings  cannot  be  concealed  ;  and  if,  by 
chance,  he  is  able  to  improve  them,  his  betterments  are  within 
the  gaze  of  the  tax-gatherer,  and  bring  a  further  increase  of 
taxation.  Are  you  sure  that  all  the  property  of  this  great 
metropolis,  where  fortunes,  which  the  farmer  vainly  works  a 
lifetime  to  secure,  are  made  and  lost  in  a  day,  meets,  with 
equal  fairness,  its  share  of  taxation  ?  At  any  rate,  cannot  the 
city  of  New  York  afford  to  pay  the  expense  necessary  to  the 
maintenance  of  its  port — thus  securing  its  commercial  suprem 
acy  and  controlling,  free  from  State  interference,  this  interest 
so  directly  important  to  you  all. 

We  are  apt,  on  such  a  day  as  this,  to  recall  with  pride  what 
has  been  done  within  a  hundred  years  to  make  us  great,  and 
we  are  quite  sure  to  appropriate  a  full  share  of  all  that  has  been 
done  in  our  day  and  generation.  It  is  well,  too,  that  we  should 
deserve  the  praise  of  those  who  shall  follow  us  and  speak  of  us 
a  hundred  years  hence  ;  but  let  us  see  to  it  that  in  our  love  for 
our  State,  and  in  our  recognition  of  every  duty  which  belongs 
to  good  citizenship,  we  are  not  behind  those  who  lived  a  hun 
dred  years  ago. 


1 *  2  CENTENNJAL  AND 

HI. 
At  the  Semi-Centennial  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  June  10,  1884. 

Having  been  in  the  service  of  the  State  for  nearly  eighteen 
months,  I  feel,  like  any  other  loyal  and  grateful  servant,  that 
no  flight  of  oratory  or  grace  of  diction  could,  if  they  were  within 
my  reach,  do  justice  to  the  greatness  and  the  goodness  of  my 
master.  I  shall  not  attempt  to  do -more  than  to  recall  some  of 
the  elements  which  make  ours  a  great  State,  and  to  suggest 
the  pride  which  we  should  feel  as  citizens  of  this  common 
wealth. 

The  State  of  New  York  is  not  alone  a  vast  area— though  it 
includes  within  its  borders  more  territory  than  seven  of  the 
original  thirteen  States  combined,  beautifully  diversified  with 
mountains  and  valleys,  streams  and  lakes,  forests  and  fields, 
and  with  farms  where  the  wealth  and  variety  of  crops  tell  the 
story  of  fertility  and  adaptation  to  the  most  valuable  products. 

The  State  is  not  alone  a  busy  workshop,  with  its  continuous 
hum  of  machinery  and  its  army  of  artisans  and  workmen— 
though  its  manufactures  exceed  in  worth,  variety,  and  volume 
any  other  State  or  Territory,  and  though  their  value  is 
more  than  the  aggregate  produced  in  ten  of  the  original 
States. 

The  State  is  not  alone  a  pathway  of  commerce  and  a  center 
of  trade— though  our  waterways  and  railroads  transport  a 
nation's  wealth,  and  though  our  metropolis  rivals  the  money 
centers  of  the  world,  and  is  a  distributing  point  for  all 
lands. 

The  State  is  not  alone  an  immense  aggregation  of  people 

though  its  population  exceeds.that  of  any  sister  State,  amount 
ing  to  more  than  one-tenth  of  all  the  States  and  Territories, 
and  nearly  exceeds  that  of  eight  of  the  original  States. 

Nor  do  all  these  things  combined  make  up  the  State  that  we 
delight  to  call  our  own. 

Our  cities,  busy,  thrifty,  and  prosperous,  are  constantly  in 
creasing  in  population  and  wealth,  and  in  the  means  to  furnish 


A  NNI  VERSA  R  Y  CELEBRA  TJONS.  I  1 3 

to  their  people  all  that  pertains  to  refinement  and  civiliza 
tion. 

Our  villages,  quiet,  contented,  and  orderly,  are  everywhere  ; 
and  by  their  growth  and  enterprise  give  proof  of  proper  and 
economical  management. 

Our  colleges  and  seminaries  on  every  hill,  and  our  common 
schools  on  every  hand,  are  evidences  of  the  faith  of  the  people 
in  popular  and  thorough  education.  Our  numerous  charitable 
institutions  enlist  the  care  of  the  State  for  the  unfortunate 
poor.  Our  churches,  and  the  tolerant  and  almost  universal 
observance  of  religious  duties  by  every  sect  and  creed,  teach 
obedience  to  the  law  and  prepare  our  people  for  good  citi 
zenship.  Our  soldiery,  well  disciplined  and  equipped,  stand 
ready  to  defend  our  homes,  while  they  beget  a  martial  spirit 
and  patriotic  sentiment.  A  wise  and  firm  administration  of 
the  law  by  our  courts  gives  no  occasion  for  disorders  and  out 
breaks  that  arise  from  the  miscarriage  of  justice. 

Surely  we  have  enough  to  cause  us  to  congratulate  ourselves 
upon  the  claim  we  have  to  State  citizenship.  And  yet  I  cannot 
forget  how  much  the  continuance  of  all  that  makes  us  proud 
to-day  depends  upon  the  watchfulness  and  independence  of 
the  people  and  their  effective  participation  and  interest  in 
State  affairs.  With  a  bad  government,  notwithstanding  all  our 
advantages,  our  State  will  not  be  great.  Remember  that  the 
government  of  the  State  was  made  for  the  people,  and  see  to  it 
that  it  be  by  the  people.  A  sturdy  independence  and  a  deter 
mination  to  hold  the  public  servant  to  a  strict  accountability 
will  teach  him  to  keep  well  in  view  the  line  between  the 
people's  interests  and  narrow  and  selfish  partisanship  ;  and  I 
am  sure  that  a  man,  after  faithful  service  in  official  place, 
reaps  no  mean  reward,  if,  at  the  end,  he  shall  retire  with  the 
confidence  and  affection  of  a  thoughtful  and  intelligent  com 
munity,  still  retaining  the  proud  title  of  a  citizen  of  the 
Empire  State. 


IJ4  CENTENNIAJ.  AND 

IV. 

At  the   Two  Hundred  and  Fiftieth  Anniversary  of   Harvard 
College,  November  9,  1886. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

1  find  myself  to-day  in  a  company  to  which  1  am  much 
unused,  and  when  I  see  the  alumni  of  the  oldest  college  in  the 
land  surrounding  in  their  right  of  sonship  the  maternal  board 
at  which  I  am  but  an  invited  guest,  the  reflection  that  for  me 
there  exists  no  alma  mater  gives  rise  to  a  feeling  of  regret, 
which  is  tempered  only  by  the  cordiality  of  your  welcome  and 
your  reassuring  kindness. 

If  the  fact  is  recalled  that  only  twelve  of  my  twenty-one  pre 
decessors  in  office  had  the  advantage  of  a  collegiate  or  uni 
versity  education,  a  proof  is  presented  of  the  democratic  sense 
of  our  people,  rather  than  an  argument  against  the  supreme 
value  of  the  best  and  most  liberal  education  in  high  public 
positions.  There  certainly  can  be  no  sufficient  reason  for  any 
space  or  distance  between  the  walks  of  a  most  classical  educa 
tion  and  the  way  that  leads  to  a  political  place.  Any  disin 
clination  on  the  part  of  the  most  learned  and  cultured  of  our 
citizens  to  mingle  in  public  affairs,  and  the  consequent  aban 
donment  of  political  activity  to  those  who  have  but  little 
regard  for  student  and  scholar  in  politics,  are  not  favorable 
conditions  under  a  government  such  as  ours,  and  if  they  have 
existed  to  a  damaging  extent,  very  recent  events  appear  to 
indicate  that  the  education  and  conservatism  of  the  land  are 
to  be  hereafter  more  plainly  heard  in  the  expression  of  the 
popular  will. 

Surely  the  splendid  destiny  which  awaits  a  patriotic  effort 
in  behalf  of  our  country  will  be  sooner  reached  if  the  best  of 
our  thinkers  and  educated  men  shall  deem  it  a  solemn  duty 
of  citizenship  to  engage  actively  and  practically  in  political 
affairs,  and  if  the  force  and  power  of  their  thought  and  learn 
ing  shall  be  willingly  or  unwillingly  acknowledged  in  party 
management. 


CELEBRATIONS.  115 

If  I  am  to  speak  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  1 
desire  to  mention,  as  the  most  pleasant  and  characteristic 
feature  of  our  system  of  government,  the  nearness  of  the  people 
to  their  President  and  othes  high  officials.  A  close  view 
afforded  our  citizens  of  the  acts  and  conduct  of  those  to  whom 
they  have  intrusted  their  interests,  serves  as  a  regulator  and 
check  upon  temptation  and  pressure  in  office,  and  is  a  constant 
reminder  that  diligence  and  faithfulness  are  the  measure  of 
public  duty  ;  and  such  a  relation  between  President  and  people 
ought  to  leave  but  little  room,  in  popular  judgment  and  con 
science,  for  unjust  and  false  accusations  and  for  malicious 
slanders  invented  for  the  purpose  of  undermining  the  people's 
trust  and  confidence  in  the  administration  of  their  govern 
ment. 

No  public  officer  should  desire  to  check  the  utmost  freedom 
of  criticism  as  to  all  official  acts,  but  every  right-thinking  man 
must  concede  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  should 
not  be  put  beyond  the  protection  which  American  love  of  fair 
play  and  decency  accords  to  every  American  citizen.  This 
trait  of  our  national  diameter  would  not  encourage,  if  their 
extent  and  tendency  were  fully  appreciated,  the  silly,  mean, 
and  cowardly  lies  that  every  day  are  found  in  the  columns  of 
certain  newspapers,  which  violate  every  instinct  of  American 
manliness,  and  in  ghoulish  glee  desecrate  every  sacred  relation 
of  private  life. 

j  There  is  nothing  in  the  highest  office  that  the  American 
people  can  confer  which  necessarily  makes  the  President  alto 
gether  selfish,  scheming,  and  untrustworthy.l  On  the  contrary, 
the  solemn  duties  which  confront  him  tend  to  a  sober  sense  of 
responsibility  ;  the  trust  of  the  American  people  and  an  appre 
ciation  of  their  mission  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  should 
make  him  a  patriotic  man,  and  the  tales  of  distress  which  reach 
him  from  the  humble  and  lowly,  and  needy  and  afflicted  in 
every  corner  of  the  land,  cannot  fail  to  quicken  within  him 
every  kind  impulse  and  tender  sensibility. 

After  all,  it  comes  to  this  ;   The  people  of  the  United  States 


116  CENTENNIAL  AND 


have  one  and  all  a  sacred  mission  to  perform,  and  your  Presi 
dent,  not  more  surely  than  any  other  citizen  who  loves  his 
country  must  assume  part  of  the  responsibility  of  the  demon 
stration  to  the  world  of  the  success  of  popular  government. 
No  man  can  hide  his  talent  in  a  napkin,  and  escape  the  con- 
damnation  which  his  slothfulness  deserves,  or  evade  the  stern 
sentence  which  his  faithlessness  invites. 

Be  assured,  my  friends,  that  the  privilege  of  this  day,  so  full 
of  improvement,  and  the  enjoyments  of  this  hour,  so  full  of 
pleasure  and  cheerful  encouragements,  will  never  be  forgotten  ; 
and  in  parting  with  you  now  let  me  express  my  earnest  hope 
that  Harvard's  alumni  may  always  honor  the  venerable  institu 
tion  which  has  honored  them,  and  that  no  man  who  forgets 
and  neglects  his  duty  to  American  citizenship  will  find  his 
alma  mater  here. 


V. 

At  the  Centennial  of  Clinton,   N.  Y.,  July  13,   1887. 

I  am  inclined  to  content  myself  on  this  occasion  with  an 
acknowledgment,  on  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
of  the  compliment  which  you  have  paid  to  the  office  which 
represents  their  sovereignty.  But  such  an  acknowledgment 
suggests  an  idea  which  I  cannot  refrain  from  dwelling  upon 
for  a  moment. 

That  the  office  of  President  of  the  United  States  does  repre 
sent  the  sovereignty  of  sixty  millions  of  free  people,  is,  to  my 
mind,  a  statement  full  of  solemnity  ;  for  this  sovereignty  I  con 
ceive  to  be  the  working  out  or  enforcement  of  the  divine  right 
of  man  to  govern  himself  and  a  manifestation  of  God's  plan 
concerning  the  human  race. 

Though  the  struggles  of  political   parties  to  secure  the  in- 

r'linbency  of  this  office,  and  the  questionable  methods  some- 

'<nes  resorted  to  for  its  possession,  may  not  be  in  keeping  with 

this  idea,  and  though  the  deceit  practiced  to  mislead  the  peo- 


ANNIVERSARY  CELEBRATIONS.  H'/ 

pie  in  their  choice,  and  its  too  frequent  influence  on  their  suf 
frage  may  surprise  us,  these  things  should  never  lead  us  astray 
in  our  estimate  of  this  exalted  position  and  its  value  and 
dignity. 

And  though  your  fellow-citizen  who  may  be  chosen  to  per 
form  for  a  time  the  duties  of  this  highest  place  should  be  badly 
selected,  and  though  the  best  attainable  results  may  not  be 
reached  by  his  administration,  yet  the  exacting  watchfulness 
of  the  people,  freed  from  the  disturbing  turmoil  of  partisan 
excitement,  ought  to  prevent  mischance  to  the  office  which 
represents  their  sovereignty,  and  should  reduce  to  a  minimum 
the  danger  of  harm  to  the  State. 

I  by  no  means  underestimate  the  importance  of  the  utmost 
care  and  circumspection  in  the  selection  of  the  incumbent. 
On  the  contrary,  I  believe  there  is  no  obligation  of  citizenship 
that  demands  more  thought  and  conscientious  deliberation  than 
this.  But  I  am  speaking  of  the  citizen's  duty  to  the  office  and 
its  selected  incumbent. 

This  duty  is  only  performed  when,  in  the  interest  of  the  en 
tire  people,  the  full  exercise  of  the  powers  of  the  Chief  Magis 
tracy  is  insisted  on,  and  when,  for  the  people's  safety,  a  due 
regard  for  the  limitations  placed  upon  the  office  is  exacted. 
These  things  should  be  enforced  by  the  manifestation  of  a  calm 
and  enlightened  public  opinion.  But  this  should  not  be  simu 
lated  by  the  mad  clamor  of  disappointed  interest,  which,  with 
out  regard  for  the  general  good,  or  allowance  for  the  exercise 
of  official  judgment,  would  degrade  the  office  by  forcing 
compliance  with  selfish  demands. 

f  If  your  President  should  not  be  of  the  people  and  one  of  your 
fellow-citizens,  he  would  be  utterly  unfit  for  the  position,  in 
capable  of  understanding  the  people's  wants  and  careless  of 
their  desires,^  That  he  is  one  of  the  people  implies  that  he  is 
subject  to  human  frailty  and  error.  But  he  should  be  per 
mitted  to  claim  but  little  toleration  for  mistakes  ;  the  gener 
osity  of  his  fellow-citizens  should  alone  decree  how  far  good 
intentions  should  excuse  his  shortcomings. 


1 1 8  ££ A^  TRNNIA  L  A  ND 

Watch  well,  then,  this  high  office,  the  most  precious  posses 
sion  of  American  citizenship.  Demand  for  it  the  most  com- 
plete  devotion  on  the  part  of  him  to  whose  custody  it  may  be 
intrusted,  and  protect  it  not  less  vigilantly  against  unworthy 
assaults  from  without. 

Thus  will  you  perform  a  sacred  duty  to  yourselves  and  to 
those  who  may  follow  you  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  freest 
institutions  which  Heaven  has  ever  vouchsafed  to  man. 


At  the  Constitution  Centennial,  Philadelphia,  September  17,  1887. 

I  deem  it  a  very  great  honor  and  pleasure  to  participate  in 
these  impressive  exercises. 

Every  American  citizen  should  on  this  centennial  day  re 
joice  in  his  citizenship. 

He  will  not  find  the  cause  of  his  rejoicing  in  the  antiquity 
of  his  country,  for  among  the  nations  of  the  earth  his  stands 
with  the  youngest.  He  will  not  find  it  in  the  glitter  and  the 
pomp  that  bedeck  a  monarch  and  dazzle  abject  and  servile 
subjects,  for  in  his  country  the  people  themselves  are  rulers. 
He  will  not  find  it  in  the  story  of  bloody  foreign  conquests, 
for  his  government  has  been  content  to  care  for  its  own 
domain  and  people. 

He  should  rejoice  because  the  work  of  framing  our  Con 
stitution  was  completed  one  hundred  years  ago  to-day,  and 
also  because,  when  completed,  it  established  a  free  government. 
He  should  rejoice  because  this  Constitution  and  government 
have  survived  so  long,  and  also  because  they  have  survived  so 
many  blessings  and  have  demonstrated  so  fully  the  strength 
and  value  of  popular  rule.  He  should  rejoice  in  the  wondrous 
growth  and  achievements  of  the  past  one  hundred  years,  and 
also  in  the  glorious  promise  of  the  Constitution  through  cen 
turies  to  come. 

We  shall  fail  to  be  duly  thankful   for  all  that   was  done  for 


ANNIVERSARY  CELEBRATIONS.  H9 

us  one  hundred  years  ago,  unless  we  realize  the  difficulties  of 
the  work  then  in  hand,  and  the  dangers  avoided  in  the  task  of 
forming  "a  more  perfect  union"  between  disjointed  and  in 
harmonious  States,  with  interests  and  opinions  radically  di 
verse  and  stubbornly  maintained. 

The  perplexities  of  the  convention  which  undertook  the 
labor  of  preparing  our  Constitution  are  apparent  in  these 
earnest  words  of  one  of  the  most  illustrious  of  its  members  : 

The  small  progress  we  have  made  after  four  or  five  weeks  of  close  attend 
ance  and  continued  reasonings  with  each  other,  our  different  sentiments  on 
almost  every  question— several  of  the  last  producing  as  many  noes  as  yeas- 
is,  methinks,  a  melancholy  proof  of  the  imperfection  of  the  human  under 
standing.  We,  indeed,  seem  to  feel  our  own  want  of  political  wisdom,  since 
we  have  been  running  about  in  search  of  it.  We  have  gone  back  to  ancient 
history  for  models  of  government,  and  examined  the  different  forms  of 
those  republics  which,  having  been  formed  with  the  seeds  of  their  own  dis 
solution,  now  no  longer  exist.  In  this  situation  of  this  assembly,  groping 
as  it  were  in  the  dark  to  find  political  truth,  and  scarce  able  to  distinguish  it 
when  presented  to  us,  how  has  it  happened,  sir,  that  we  have  not  heretofore 
once  thought  of  humbly  applying  to  the  Father  of  Light  to  illuminate  our 
understandings  ? 

And  this  wise  man,  proposing  to  his  fellows  that  the  aid  and 
blessing  of  God  should  be  invoked  in  their  extremity,  de 
clared  : 

I  have  lived,  sir,  a  long  time,  and  the  longer  I  live  the  more  convincing 
proofs  I  see  of  the  truth  that  God  governs  in  the  affairs  of  men.  And  if  a 
sparrow  cannot  fall  to  the  ground  without  his  notice,  is  it  probable  that  an 
empire  can  rise  without  his  aid  ?  We  have  been  assured,  sir,  in  the  sacred 
writings  that  "except  the  Lord  build  the  house,  they  labor  in  vain  that  builc 
it."  I  firmly  believe  this  ;  and  I  also  believe  that  without  his  concurring 
aid  we  shall  succeed  in  this  political  building  no  better  than  the  builders  of 
Habel.  We  shall  be  divided  by  our  little  partial,  local  interests,  our  projects 
will  be  confounded,  and  we  ourselves  shall  become  a  reproach  and  a  by 
word  down  to  future  ages  ;  and,  what  is  worse,  mankind  may  hereafter,  fron 
this  unfortunate  instance,  despair  of  establishing  governments  by  human 
wisdom,  and  leave  it  to  chance,  war,  and  conquest. 

In  the  face  of  all  discouragements,  the  fathers  of  the  re 
public  labored   on  for  four  long,  weary  months,  in  alternate 


120  CENTENNIAL  AND 

hope  and  fear,  but  always  with  rugged  resolve,  never  faltering 
in  a  sturdy  endeavor  sanctified  by  a  prophetic  sense  of  the 
value  to  posterity  of  their  success,  and  always  with  unflinch 
ing  faith  in  the  principles  which  make  the  foundation  of  a 
government  by  the  people. 

At  last  their  task  was  done.  It  is  related  that  upon  the  back 
of  the  chair  occupied  by  Washington  as  the  president  of  the 
Convention  a  sun  was  painted,  and  that  as  the  delegates  were 
signing  the  completed  Constitution  one  of  them  said  :  "  I  have 
often  and  often,  in  the  course  of  the  session,  and  in  the  solici 
tude  of  my  hopes  and  fears  as  to  its  issue,  looked  at  that  sun 
behind  the  president  without  being  able  to  tell  whether  it  was 
rising  or  setting.  But  now  at  length  I  know  that  it  is  a  rising 
and  not  a  setting  sun." 

We  stand  to-day  on  the  spot  where  this  rising  sun  emerged 
from  political  night  and  darkness  ;  and  in  its  own  bright 
meridian  light  we  mark  its  glorious  way.  Clouds  have  some 
times  obscured  its  rays,  and  dreadful  storms  have  made  us  fear  ; 
but  God  has  held  it  in  its  course,  and  through  its  life-giving 
warmth  has  performed  his  latest  miracle  in  the  creation  of 
this  wondrous  land  and  people. 

As  we  look  down  the  past  century  to  the  origin  of  our  Con 
stitution,  as  we  contemplate  its  trials  and  its  triumphs,  as  we 
realize  how  completely  the  principles  upon  which  it  is'  based 
have  met  every  national  peril  and  every  national  need,  how 
devoutly  should  we  confess,  with  Franklin,  «  God  governs 
in  the  affairs  of  men  ;  "  and  how  solemn  should  be  the  reflec 
tion  that  to  our  hands  is  committed  this  ark  of  the  people's 
covenant,  and  that  ours  is  the  duty  to  shield  it  from  impious 
hands.  We  receive  it  sealed  with  the  tests  of  a  century.  It 
has  been  found  sufficient  in  the  past;  and  in  all  the  future 
years  it  will  be  found  sufficient,  if  the  American  people  are 
true  to  their  sacred  trust. 

Another  centennial  day  will  come,  and  millions  yet  unborn 
will  inquire  concerning  our  stewardship  and  the  safety  of  their 
Constitution.  God  grant  that  they  may  find  it  unimpaired  ; 


ANN1  VERSA  R  Y  CELEBRA  TlONS.  1 2 1 

and  as  we  rejoice  in  the  patriotism  and  devotion  of  those  who 
lived  a  hundred  yea:s  ago,  so  may  others  who  follow  us  re 
joice  in  our  fidelity  and  in  our  jealous  love  for  constitutional 
liberty. 


VII. 

At  the  Dinner  of  the  Historical  and  Scientific  Societies  of  Phila 
delphia,  September   17,     1887. 

On  such  a  day  as  this,  and  in  the  atmosphere  that  now 
surrounds  him,  I  feel  that  the  President  of  the  United  States 
should  be  thoughtfully  modest  and  humble.  The  great  office 
he  occupies  stands  to-day  in  the  presence  of  its  maker  ;  and 
it  is  especially  fitting  for  this  servant  of  the  people  and  crea 
ture  of  the  Constitution,  amid  the  impressive  scenes  of  this 
centennial  occasion,  by  a  rigid  self-examination  to  be  assured 
concerning  his  loyalty  and  obedience  to  the  law  of  his  exist 
ence.  He  will  find  that  the  rules  prescribed  for  his  guidance 
require  for  the  performance  of  his  duty,  not  the  intellect  or 
attainments  which  would  raise  him  far  above  the  feeling  and 
sentiment  of  the  plain  people  of  the  land,  but  rather  such  a 
knowledge  of  their  condition,  and  sympathy  with  their  wants 
and  needs  as  will  bring  him  near  to  them.  And  though  he 
may  be  almost  appalled  by  the  weight  of  his  responsibility  and 
the  solemnity  of  his  situation,  he  cannot  fail  to  find  comfort 
and  encouragement  in  the  success  of  the  fathers  of  the  Con 
stitution,  wrought  from  their  simple,  patriotic  devotion  to  the 
rights  and  interests  of  the  people.  Surely  he  may  hope  that, 
if  reverently  invoked,  the  spirit  which  gave  the  Constitution  life, 
will  be  sufficient  for  its  successful  operation  and  the  accomplish 
ment  of  its  beneficent  purposes. 

Because  they  are  brought  nearest  the  events  and  scenes 
which,  marked  the  birth  of  American  institutions,  the  people 
of  Philadelphia  should,  of  all  our  citizens,  be  more  imbued  with 
the  broadest  patriotism.  The  first  Continental  Congress  and 


122  CENTENNIAL  AND 

the  Constitutional  Convention  met  here,  and  Philadelphia  still 
has  in  her  keeping  Carpenter's  Hall,  Independence  Hall  and 
its  bell,  and  the  grave  of  Franklin. 

As  I  look  about  me  and  see  here  represented  the  societies 
that  express  so  largely  the  culture  of  Philadelphia,  its  love  of 
art,  its  devotion  to  science,  its  regard  for  the  broadest  knowl 
edge,  and  its  studious  care  for  historical  research— societies 
some  of  which  antedate  the  Constitution— I  feel  that  I  am  in 
notable  company.  To  you  is  given  the  duty  of  preserving  for 
your  city,  for  all  your  fellow-countrymen,  and  for  mankind, 
the  traditions  and  the  incidents  related  to  the  freest  and  best 
government  ever  vouchsafed  to  man.  It  is  a  sacred  trust, 
and  as  time  leads  our  government  further  and  further  from 
the  date  of  its  birth,  may  you  solemnly  remember  that  a  nation 
exacts  of  you  that  these  traditions  and  incidents  shall  never 
be  tarnished  nor  neglected,  but  that,  brightly  burnished,  they 
may  always  be  held  aloft,  fastening  the  gaze  of  a  patriotic 
people  and  keeping  alive  their  love  and  reverence  for  the 
Constitution. 


VIII. 

At  the    Washington  Inauguration   Centennial,   New  York, 
April  30,    1889. 

Wherever  human  government  has  been  administered  in 
tyranny,  in  despotism,  or  in  oppression,  there  has  been  found, 
among  the  governed,  yearning  for  a  freer  condition  and  the 
assertion  of  man's  nobility.  These  are  but  the  faltering  steps 
of  human  nature  in  the  direction  of  the  freedom  which  is  its 
birthright  ;  and  they  presage  the  struggle  of  men  to  become  a 
free  people,  and  thus  reach  the  plane  of  their  highest  and  best 
aspirations.  In  this  relation,  and  in  their  cry  for  freedom,  it 
may  be  truly  said,  the  voice  of  the  people  is  the  voice  of 
God. 

In  sublime  faith  and  rugged  strength  our  fathers  cried  out 


ANNIVERSARY  CELEBRATIONS.  123 

to  the  world,  "  We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,  in  order 
to  form  a  more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic 
tranquillity,  provide  for  the  common  defense,  promote  the 
general  welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves 
and  our  posterity,  do  ordain  and  establish  this  Constitution  for 
the  United  States  of  America." 

Thus  "  our  people,"  in  a  day,  assumed  a  place  among  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  Their  mission  was  to  teach  the  fitness  of 
man  for  self-government,  and  their  destiny  was  to  outstrip 
every  other  people  in  national  achievement  and  material  great 
ness. 

One  hundred  years  have  passed.  We  have  announced 
and  approved  to  the  world  our  mission,  and  made  our  destiny 
secure. 

Our  churches,  our  schools  and  universities,  and  our  benevo 
lent  institutions,  which  beautify  every  town  and  hamlet,  and 
look  out  from  every  hillside,  testify  to  the  value  our  people 
place  upon  religious  teaching,  upon  advanced  education,  and 
upon  deeds  of  charity.  That  our  people  are  still  jealous  of 
their  individual  rights  and  freedom  is  proved  by  the  fact  that 
no  one  in  place  or  power  has  dared  openly  to  assail  them. 
The  enthusiasm  which  marks  the  celebration  of  the  centennial 
of  the  inauguration  of  their  first  Chief  Magistrate  shows  the 
popular  appreciation  of  the  value  of  the  office,  which,  in  our 
plan  of  government,  stands  above  all  others,  for  the  sovereignty 
of  the  people,  and  is  the  repository  of  their  trust. 

Surely  such  a  people  can  be  safely  trusted  with  their  free 
government  ;  and  there  need  be  no  fear  that  they  have  lost 
the  qualities  which  fit  them  to  be  its  custodians.  If  they 
should  wander,  they  will  return  to  duty  in  good  time.  If 
they  should  be  misled,  they  will  discover  the  true  landmarks 
none  too  late  for  safety;  and  if  they  should  even  be  corrupted 
they  will  speedily  be  found  seeking  with  peace-offerings  their 
country's  holy  altar. 

Let  us,  then,  have  an  abiding  faith  in  "  our  people." 
Let  petulance  and  discontent  with  popular  action  disappear 


124  CENTENNIAL  AND 

before  the  truth  that  in  any  and  all  circumstances,  the  will  of 

e  people,  however  it  may  be  exercised,  is  the  law  of  our 

national  existence-the  arbiter,  absolute  and  unchangeable  by 

which   we  must  abide.     Other  than  existing  situations   and 

policies  can  only  justify  themselves  when  they  may  be  reached 

by  the  spread  of  political  intelligence  and  the  revival  of  un- 

fish  and   patriotic  interest  in   public    affairs.      Ill-natured 

complaints  of  popular  incompetency,  and  self-righteous  asser 

ions  of  superiority  over  the  body  of  the  people,  are  impotent 

and  useless. 

But  there  is  danger,  I  fear,  that  the  scope  of  the  words  «  our 
people  "  and  all  they  import  are  not  always  fully  apprehended 
is  only  natural  that  those  in  the  various  walks  of  life  should 
see  "our  people  "  within  the   range  of  their  own  vision,  and 
find  just  about  them  the  interests  most  important  and  the  most 
worthy  the  care  of  the  government.     The  rich  merchant  or 
capitalist,  m  the  center  of  wealth  and  enterprise,  hardly  has  a 
glimpse  of  the  country  blacksmith  at  his  forge  or  the  farmer  in 
his  field;  and  these,  in  their  turn,  know  but  little  of  the  laborers 
who  crowd  our  manufactories  and  inhabit  their  own  world  of 
Ml,  or  of  the  thousands  who  labor  in  our  mines.     If  represent, 
atives    of    every  element   of  our  population   and   industries 
should  be  gathered  together,   they  would   find   but   little  of 
purely  selfish  and  personal  interest  in  common  ;  and  upon  a 
superficial  glance  but  little  would  be  seen  to  denote  that  only 
one  people  was  represented.     Yet,  in  the  spirit  of  our  institu- 
ions,  all  these,  so  separated  in  station  and  personal  interest, 
are  a  common  brotherhood  and  are  «  our  people  ";  all  of  equal 
value  before   the  law  ;   all   having,  by  their  suffrage,  the  same 
voice  m  governmental  affairs  ;  all  demanding  with  equal  force 
protection  and  defense  ;  and  all,  in  their  persons  and  property 
equally  entitled  to  their  government's  scrupulous  care 


ANNIVERSAR  Y   CELEBKA  TJONS.  1 25 

IX. 

On   Taking  the  Chair  at  the  Celebration  of  the  Organization  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  February  4,  1890. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

We  are  accustomed  to  express,  on  every  fit  occasion,  our  rev 
erence  for  the  virtue  and  patriotism  in  which  the  foundations 
of  our  republic  were  laid,  and  to  rejoice  in  the  blessings  vouch 
safed  to  us  under  free  institutions.  Thus  we  have  lately  cele 
brated,  with  becoming  enthusiasm,  the  centennial  of  the 
completion  of  our  Constitution  and  the  inauguration  of  our 
first  President. 

To-day  we  have  assembled  to  commemorate  an  event  con 
nected  with  our  beginning  as  a  people,  which,  more  than  any 
other,  gave  safety  and  the  promise  of  perpetuity  to  the  Ameri 
can  plan  of  government,  and  which,  more  than  any  other,  hap 
pily  illustrated  the  wisdom  and  enlightened  foresight  of  those 
who  designed  our  national  structure. 

In  the  work  of  creating  our  nation,  the  elements  of  a  free 
government  were  supplied  by  concessions  of  sovereign  States, 
by  surrender  of  accustomed  rights,  and  by  the  inspiration  of 
pure  and  disinterested  patriotism.  If,  from  these  elements, 
there  had  not  been  evolved  that  feature  in  our  Federal  sys 
tem  which  is  our  theme  to-day,  the  structure  might  have  been 
fair  to  look  upon  and  might  have  presented  a  semblance  of 
solidity  and  strength  ;  but  it  would  have  been  only  a  sem 
blance  ;  and  the  completed  edifice  would  have  had  within  its 
foundations  the  infirmity  of  decay  and  ruin. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  it  is  hardly  within  the  power  of 
human  language  so  to  compass  diverse  interests  and  claims, 
within  the  lines  of  a  written  constitution,  as  to  free  it  entirely 
from  disputes  of  construction  ;  and  certainly  diverse  construc 
tions  were  apt  to  lurk  in  the  diction  of  a  constitution  declared 
by  the  president  of  the  convention  which  formulated  it,  to  be 
"  the  result  of  a  spirit  of  amity  and  of  that  mutual  deference 


126  CENTENNIAL  AND 

and  concession  which  the  peculiarity  of  our  political  situation 
rendered  indispensable." 

It  is  fairly  plain  and  palpable,  both  from  reason  and  a  re 
view  of  events  in  our  history,  that  without  an  arbiter  to  deter- 
mine,  finally  and  conclusively,  the  rights  and  duties  embraced 
in  the  language  of  the  Constitution,  the  union  of  States  and  the 
life  of  the  American  nation  must  have  been  precarious  and 
disappointing.  Indeed,  there  could  hardly  have  been  a  well- 
grounded  hope  that  they  would  long  survive  the  interpreta 
tion  of  the  national  compact  by  every  party  upon  whom  it 
rested,  and  the  insistence  of  each,  to  the  last  extremity,  upon 
such  an  interpretation  as  would  secure  coveted  rights  and 
benefits,  and  absolve  from  irksome  duties  and  obligations. 

In  the  creation  of  the  world,  the  earth  was  without  form 
and  void,  and  darkness  was  upon  the  face  of  the  deep,  until 
God  said  :  "  Let  there  be  light,  and  there  was  light." 

In  the  creation  of  our  new  nation,  our  free  institutions 
were  without  the  form  and  symmetry  of  strength,  and  the 
darkness  of  hopelessness  brooded  over  the  aspirations  of  our 
people,  until  a  light  in  the  temple  of  Justice  and  Law,  gath 
ered  from  the  Divine  fountain  of  light,  illumined  the  work  of 
the  fathers  of  our  republic. 

On  this  centennial  day  we  will  devoutly  thank  Heaven  for 
the  revelation,  to  those  who  formed  our  government,  of  this 
source  of  strength  and  light,  and  for  the  inspiration  of  dis 
interested  patriotism  and  consecrated  devotion  which  estab 
lished  the  tribunal  which  we  to-day  commemorate. 

Our  fathers  had  sacrificed  much  to  be  free.  Above  all 
things  they  desired  freedom  to  be  absolutely  secured  to  them 
selves  and  their  posterity.  And  yet,  with  all  their  enthusiasm 
for  this  sentiment,  they  were  willing  to  refer  to  the  tribunal 
which  they  devised  all  questions  arising  under  their  newly 
formed  Constitution,  affecting  the  freedom  and  the  protection 
and  safety  of  the  citizen.  Though  bitter  experience  had 
taught  them  that  the  instrumentalities  of  government  might 
trespass  upon  freedom,  and  though  they  had  learned  in  a  hard 


ANNIVERSARY  CELEBRATIONS.  127 

school  the  cost  of  the  struggle  to  wrest  liberty  from  the  grasp 
of  power,  they  refused,  in  the  solemn  work  they  had  in  hand, 
to  take  counsel  of  undue  fear  or  distracting  perturbation  ;  and 
they  calmly  and  deliberately  established,  as  a  function  of  their 
government,  a  check  upon  unauthorized  freedom  and  a  re 
straint  upon  dangerous  liberty.  Their  attachment  and  alle 
giance  to  the  sovereignty  of  their  States  were  warm  and 
unfaltering  ;  but  these  did  not  prevent  them  from  contributing 
a  fraction  of  that  sovereignty  to  the  creation  of  a  Court  which 
should  guard  and  protect  their  new  nation,  and  save  and  per 
petuate  a  government  which  should,  in  all  time  to  come,  bless 
an  independent  people. 

I  deem  myself  highly  honored  by  the  part  assigned  to  me 
in  these  commemorative  exercises.  As  in  eloquent  and  fitting 
terms  we  shall  be  led,  by  those  chosen  to  address  us,  to  the 
contemplation  of  the  history  of  that  august  tribunal  organized 
one  hundred  years  ago  ;  as  the  lives  and  services  of  those  who 
in  the  past  have  presided  over  its  councils  are  rehearsed  to  us ; 
as  our  love  and  veneration  for  our  fellow-countrymen  who  now 
fill  its  high  and  sacred  places  are  quickened  ;  and  as  we  are 
reminded  of  the  manner  in  which  our  national  Court  has  at 
all  times  illustrated  the  strength  and  beneficence  of  free  in 
stitutions,  let  us  be  glad  in  the  possession  of  this  rich  heritage 
of  American  citizenship,  and  gratefully  appreciate  the  wisdom 
and  patriotism  of  those  who  gave  to  us  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States. 


X. 

At  tJie  Celebration  of  the  Semi-Centennial  of  the  German  Young 
Metis  Association,  Buffalo,  May  n,  1891. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  am  glad  to  meet  here  to-night  so  many  old  friends  and  ac 
quaintances,  and  to  join  them  in  the  felicitations  which  have 
called  us  together.  At  this  moment  I  recall  with  perfect  vivid- 


128  CENTENNIAL  AND 

ness  another  evening  nearly  eight  years  ago,  when,  in  a  beautiful 
building  standing  on  this  spot  and  then  just  completed  we 
inaugurated  with  songs  and  rejoicing  a  grand  nat.onal  Sanger- 
fest.  That  was  a  proud  day  for  Buffalo,  and  a  prouder  one  still 
for  our  German  fellow-townsmen,  who  then  welcomed  as  their 
guests  a  large  and  notable  assemblage  from  many  States  rep- 
resenting  their  national  love  of  music  ;  and,  at  the  same  time 
were  permitted  to  exhibit  to  their  visitors,  as  a  monument 
the  enterprise  and  activity  of  the  German  Young  Men's 
Association,  the  grand  and  imposing  Music  Hall  in  which  their 
festival  of  song  was  held. 

The  disaster  which  soon  after  overtook  the  association,  involv 
ing  the  destruction  of  their  splendid  building,  brought  no  clis- 
)uragement  to  the  members  of  the  organization.     To-night  we 
t  in  another  and  more  magnificent  Music  Hall,  built  upon 
the  ashes  of  the  first,  to  celebrate  the  close  of  fifty  years  in  the 
life  of  an  association  that  exhibits  to  every  observer  the  cour 
age  and  determination  which  inevitably  lead  to  usefulness  and 
success. 

I  shall  not  assume  such   a   familiarity  with   the  career  of 
the  association  as   would  enable  me  to  present   in   detail  the 
results  of  its  past  efforts.     In  any  event  it  would  ill  become  me 
to  enter  upon  this  field,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the   able  and 
onorable  gentleman  now  at  the  head  of  the  association  was 
its  first  president,  and  for  fifty  years  has  watched  its  prog 
ress  and  been  devoted  to  its  interests.     Surely  there  has  seldom 
been  an  organization  which   numbered  among  its  members,  at 
end  of  half  a  century,  so  competent  a  chronicler  of  its  his 
tory  and  achievements. 

I    understand    that    among   the    prominent     purposes    of 

German  Young  Men's   Association  are  the  propagation 

.    promot.on  of   a  knowledge  of   German   literature    and 

the  cultivation   and  encouragement  of  the  best  elements  of 

German  character. 

So  far  as  the  first  of  these  objects  is  concerned,  I  hope  I  may 
be  permuted  to  say  that,  while  the  efforts  of  the  association  in 


ANNIVERSARY   CELEBRATIONS.  129 

the  direction  mentioned  are  most  praiseworthy  and  patriotic, 
such  an  undertaking  can  by  no  means  be  monopolized  by  any 
association.  The  value  and  importance  of  German  literature 
are  too  keenly  appreciated  to  be  neglected  in  any  part  of  the 
world,  where  there  are  those  who  seek  to  know  the  past  tri 
umphs  of  science,  poetry,  music,  and  art,  or  where  there  are 
those  who  strive  to  keep  pace  with  their  present  development 
and  progress.  It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  all  nations  which 
make  claim  to  high  civilization  encourage  the  study  of  German 
literature,  and  that  the  extent  to  which  this  study  is  pursued 
by  a  people  furnishes  a  standard  of  their  enlightenment. 

On  behalf  of  the  American  people,  I  am  inclined,  also,  to 
claim  to-night  that  the  German  character  which  the  association 
undertakes  to  cultivate  is  so  interwoven  with  all  the  growth  and 
progress  of  our  country  that  we  have  a  right  to  include  it 
among  the  factors  which  make  up  a  sturdy  and  thrifty  Ameri 
canism.  With  our  early  settlers  came  the  Germans.  They 
suited  themselves  to  every  condition  of  our  new  world.  Many 
of  them  fought  for  American  independence,  and  many,  who  in 
the  trade  of  war  came  to  fight  against  us,  afterward  settled 
on  our  soil,  and  contributed  greatly  to  the  hardihood  and 
stubborn  endurance  which  our  young  nation  so  much  needed. 

As  years  were  added  to  the  new  republic,  the  tide  of  German 
immigration  increased  in  volume.  Those  who  thus  came  to 
us  brought  with  them  a  love  of  liberty  which  readily  assimi 
lated  them  to  our  institutions,  and  their  natural  love  of  order 
made  them  good  citizens.  By  their  love  of  music  and  social 
enjoyments  they  shed  a  bright  light  upon  the  solemn  and  con 
stant  routine  of  American  work,  while,  at  the  same  time,  they 
abundantly  proved  that  reasonable  recreation  was  entirely 
consistent  with  wholesome  and  conservative  accumulation. 
They  were  found  in  every  part  of  our  land.  Among  the  pio 
neers  of  the  far  West,  they  struggled  against  discouragements 
and  hardships— counteracting  privation  by  frugality,  and  never 
for  a  moment  losing  sight  of  the  better  day  promised  by  the 
future  to  undaunted  courage  and  persistent  industry.  In  our 


J3°  CENTENNIAL  AND 

cities  and  towns  they  were  found  in  the  front  ranks  of  success 
ful  business  and  trade;  and  by  the  choice  of  their  fellow- 
citizens  they  held  public  positions  of  trust  and  influence. 
Everywhere  they  illustrated  the  value  and  the  sure  reward  of 
economy  and  steady  work. 

Thus,  before  the   American  nation   had  lived   one  hundred 
years,  our  German   population    had  grown    to   millions,  and 
constituted  an  important  ingredient  in  the  mass  of    American 
activity.     Then  there  came  a  time  when  the  government  of  the 
country  of  their  adoption  was  assaulted  by  rebellious  hands  ; 
and  then  our  German  fellow-citizens  had  presented  to  them  an 
opportunity  to  prove  the  depth  and  breadth  of  their  attachment 
to  the  land  in  which  they  lived  and  wrought,  and  to  exhibit  how 
completely  they  had  become  patriotic  American  citizens.     They 
allowed  not  a  moment  for  uncertainty,  but  flocked  by  thousands 
to  the  standard  of  the  Union  and  bravely  devoted  themselves 
to  its  defense.     In  every  battle  the  German  soldiers  fought  with 
courage  and  persistence,  and  died  with  fortitude.    This  common 
baptism  of  blood,  and  this  partnership  in  peril,  brought  closer 
together  every  element  of  our   people,  and  made  them  all- 
more  than  ever  and   in  every  sense— Americans.     This   leads 
me  to  say  that  any  opposing  claims  to  ownership  in  the  valuable 
traits  of  German  character  admit  of  a  fair  compromise.     No 
one  will  begrudge  the  satisfaction  to  be  derived  from  analyzing 
these  elements  and  establishing  their  German  origin  ;  and  all 
will  concede  that  the  more   they  are  cultivated  the  more  our 
country  will  gain.     But  when  all  this  is  done,  let  us  call  these 
traits,  so  far  as  they  are  here  exhibited,  American.     They  have 
been  with  us  since  our  beginning  ;  they  have  influenced  every 
day  of  our  country's  life  ;  they  are  among  the  traits  which  our 
government  was  formed  to  foster,  and  they  are  essential  to  our 
country's  safety  and  prosperity. 

I  hardly  think  there  is  any  city  in  the  land  that  should  ap 
preciate  the  value  of  German  population  better  than  Buffalo. 
On  every  side,  within  your  limits,  are  seen  the  evidences  of  the 
thrift  of  your  German  fellow-townsmen  and  monuments  of 


ANNIVERSARY  CELEBRATIONS.  13* 

their  industry  and  enterprise.  No  one  can  dispute  their  con 
tribution  to  your  immense  municipal  growth,  and  you  do  well 
to  recognize  it  in  the  selection  of  those  charged  with  the  ad 
ministration  of  your  city  government.  Even  now  there  stands 
at  its  head,  performing  his  duties  acceptably  to  the  entire 
community,  one  who  has  won  his  way  to  the  confidence  of  his 
fellow-citizens  solely  by  the  German-American  traits  of  hon 
esty,  industry,  and  economy.  I  know  that  he  will  forgive  me 
for  saying  that  when  1  knew  him  first,  not  many  years  ago,  he 
was  occupying  an  honorable,  but  very  humble  position,  and  gave 
no  symptom  of  his  present  prominence.  I  will  not  dispute  the 
right  of  anyone  to  call  him  a  German  ;  but  I  claim  the  satis 
faction  of  also  calling  this  old  friend  of  mine  a  first-rate 
American. 

In  the  light  of  the  suggestions  I  have  made,  it  is  a  pleasant 
thing  to  learn  the  significant  fact  that  the  membership  of  the 
German  Young  Men's  Association  is  quite  largely  made  up  of 
those  \\jifo  have  no  title  to  German  parentage  or  origin. 

I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  to  introduce  here  the  thought 
that  no  such  association  can  exist  and  escape  a  responsibility 
to  our  people  and  ourgovernment.  Wherever  our  countrymen 
are  gathered  together  with  the  professed  purpose  of  mutual 
improvement,  or  in  furtherance  of  any  useful  object,  they  ought 
to  do  something  for  their  country.  Its  welfare  and  progress 
depend  so  clearly  upon  what  the  people  are  taught  and  what 
they  think  that  patriotism  should  pervade  their  every  endeavor 
in  the  direction  of  mental  or  social  improvement.  Our  gov 
ernment  was  made  by  the  people  ;  and  by  the  people  it  must 
be  constantly  watched  and  maintained.  Like  every  other 
mechanism  it  requires  guidance  and  care.  Without  this,  like 
many  another  mechanism,  it  will  not  only  fail  to  do  its  work,  but 
it  may  injure  and  wound  those  who  stand  idly  near.  We  cannot 
afford,  in  the  heedless  race  for  wealth,  nor  in  the  absorbing 
struggle  for  the  promotion  of  selfish  ends,  to  neglect,  fora  day, 
our  duty  to  our  government. 

So,  as  the  members  of  the  German  Young  Men's  Association 


*32  ANNIVERSARY  CELEBRATIONS. 

contemplate  the  steadfast  love  of  country  which  belongs  to  the 
German  character,  let  them  enforce  the  lesson  that  this  senti 
ment  is  absolutely  essential  to  the  strength  and  vigor  of  Amer 
ican  institutions.  If  they  find  that  German  industry  and 
frugality  lead  to  national  happiness  and  comfort,  let  them 
insist  that  these  characteristics  be  rooted  in  our  soil ;  and  if 
they  find  that  the  justice  and  equality  which  our  free  institutions 
promise,  and  which  the  Germans  love,  are  withheld  from  them 
and  the  American  people,  let  them  demand  from  the  govern 
ment  which  they  support  a  scrupulous  redemption  of  its 
pledges. 

As  this  association  crosses  the  threshold  which  lies  midway 
in  the  first  century  of  its  existence,  its  members  may  well  recall 
with  pride  and  congratulation  what  it  has  thus  far  done  for 
the  promotion  of  a  knowledge  of  German  literature  and  the 
cultivation  of  German  character  ;  and,  as  they  enter  upon  the 
second  half  century  of  organized  effort,  they  should  be  more 
than  ever  determined  to  pursue  these  purposes,  not  only 
because  they  may  thus  keep  alive  a  fond  remembrance  of  the 
Fatherland,  but  because  they  may  thus,  in  a  higher,  better 
spirit,  aid  in  the  cultivation  of  those  sentiments  .which  purify 
and  strengthen  a  genuine  and  patriotic  Americanism. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

TO  FARMERS'  ORGANIZATIONS. 

I. 

At  thA&swegatchie  Fair,  Ogdcmbiirg,  N.   Y.,  October  5,  1883 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

WHEN  I  received  the  invitation  of  the  president  of  this  fair 
to  be  with  you  to-day,  I  could  hardly  see  my  way  to  accept, 
because  I  find  that  the  duties  of  the  office  to  which  I  have  been 
called  are  of  such  a  nature  that  1  can  scarcely  do  all  that  crowds 
upon  me,  with  quite  constant  attention.     But  the  more  I  con 
sidered  the  question  of  visiting  you,  the  stronger  the  desire  be 
came  to  accept  the  invitation.     I  remembered  that  I  had  never 
been  here  but  once,  many  years  ago,  and  then  for  only  a  night. 
I  wanted  to  know  more  of  the  largest  county  in  the  State.     I 
wanted  to  see  your  thriving  and  pleasant  city.     I  thought  of  the 
opportunity  I  should  have  of  seeing  something  of  the  kind  and 
quality  of  your  products  ;  and,  more  than  all,  I  wanted  to  see, 
and  become  better  acquainted  with, the  people  here,  who,  from 
lack  of  familiarity,  seemed  so  far  away.     And  then,  too,  1   re 
flected  that  I  was  the  servant  of  the  people  of  the  State  ;  and 
inasmuch  as  they  could  not  all  come  to  see  how  their  servants 
are  doing  their  duty,  it  is  no  more  than  right  that  these  serv 
ants  should   occasionally  go  to  their  masters  and  report— or 
at  least  answer  to  their  names.     Thus  I  am  here  ;  but  I  came 
upon  the  express  condition  that  I  shall    not   make  a  speech. 
And   the   little   talk  I  may  have  here  with   my   friends  of  St. 
Lawrence  County  I  do  not  regard  as  either  a  speech   or  an 
address. 

I  have  not  come  to  you  with  any  pretense  of  special  knowl- 

133 


J34  TO  FARMERS'    ORGANIZATIONS. 

edge  of  the  things  which  are  here  the  subject  of  interest.  I 
am  obliged  to  confess  that  I  am  not  a  farmer,  and  know  but 
little  about  it.  My  experience  of  a  few  weeks  on  a  farm,  when 
a  boy,  resulted  in  but  little  addition  to  my  knowledge  of  agri 
culture,  and  I  am  sure  was  of  but  little  benefit  to  the  proprie 
tor  of  the  cornfield  in  which  I  worked.  I  suppose,  too,  you 
have,  from  time  to  time,  heard  enough  of  transparent  flattery, 
having  for  its  text  the  nobility  of  those  who  till  the  soil  and 
the  simplicity  which  characterizes  the  greatness  of  a  farming 
community.  I  am  glad  to  meet  you  as  fellow-citizens,  all 
engaged  in  one  way  or  another  in  developing  the  resources  of 
a  great  State,  and  maintaining  and  adding  to  its  high  suprem 
acy,  as  well  as  increasing  your  own  wealth  and  comfort. 
The  farm,  furnished  with  fine  and  well-kept  buildings,  is  not 
only  a  proof  of  its  owner's  thrift  and  competency,  but  that 
much  has  been  added  to  the  wealth  of  the  State. 

Broad  fields,  well  tilled,  not  only  secure  comfort  and  an 
income  to  the  farmer,  but  build  up  the  commerce  of  the  State 
and  easily  supply  the  wants  of  the  population.  None  of  these 
things  result  except  by  labor.  This  is  the  magic  wand  whose 
touch  creates  wealth  and  a  great  State.  So  all  of  us  who  work 
are,  in  our  several  ways,  engaged  in  building  to  a  higher  reach 
and  nobler  proportions  the  fabric  of  a  proud  commonwealth. 
Those  who  make  and  execute  the  laws,  join  with  those  who 
toil  from  day  to  day  with  their  hands  in  their  several  occu 
pations,  all  alike  engaged  in  building  up  and  protecting  the 
State. 

The  institution  of  fairs  such  as  this  must,  it  seems  to  me,  have 
a  wholesome  and  beneficial  effect.  In  addition  to  the  competi 
tion  engendered,  which  spurs  to  more  effect  and  better  methods, 
the  opportunity  is  afforded  to  profit  by  the  experience  of 
others.  The  State  has  shown  an  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
experiment  in  agriculture,  by  establishing  and  maintaining,  at 
considerable  expense,  a  farm  for  the  express  purpose  of  devis 
ing  and  proving  the  value  of  new  plans  and  operations  in 
farming.  The  results  are  freely  offered  to  all  ;  and  thus  the 


TO  FARMERS1    ORGANIZATIONS.  *35 

farmer  may  gain  a  knowledge  of  methods  which  will  render  his 
labor  more  profitable  without  the  risk  of  loss  in  time  which  he 
himself  might  spend  in  experiment.  I  have  no  doubt  that  the 
soil  of  the  State  of  New  York  is  tilled  well  and  intelligently. 
And  still  I  suppose  much  of  our  farming  might  be  improved 
by  a  closer  regard  to  successful  experiment,  and  by  learning 
the  lessons  of  approved  science  as  applied  to  agriculture.  I 
do  not  fear,  however,  that  the  farmers  of  New  York  will  stop 
short  of  the  highest  excellence.  The  people  of  this  State  are 
not  given  to  that. 

While  I,  in  this  manner,  urge  you  to  claim  from  the  soil  all 
it  has  to  yield,  by  the  aid  of  intelligent  efforts  in  its  cultivation, 
I  cannot  refrain  from  reminding  you  that,  as  citizens,  you  have 
something  else  to  do.  You  have  the  responsibility  of  citizen 
ship  upon  you,  and  you  should  see  to  it  that  you  do  your  duty 
to  the  State,  not  only  by  increasing  its  wealth  by  the  cultiva 
tion  and  improvement  of  the  soil,  but  by  an  intelligent  selec 
tion  of  those  who  shall  act  for  you  in  the  enactment  and  exe 
cution  of  your  laws.  Weeds  and  thistles,  if  allowed  in  your 
fields,  defeat  your  toil  and  efforts.  So  abuses  in  the  adminis 
tration  of  your  government  lead  to  the  dishonor  of  your  State, 
choke  and  thwart  the  wishes  of  the  people,  and  waste  their 
substance. 

I  have  heard  it  said  that  a  farm  or  business  never  does  bet 
ter  than  when  it  is  managed  by  its  owner.  So  it  is  with  your 
government.  It  accomplishes  its  purposes  and  operates  well 
only  when  it  is  managed  by  the  people  and  for  the  people.  It 
was  designed  and  constructed  to  be  used  in  just  this  way. 
None  of  you  would  attempt  to  turn  the  soil  of  a  field  without 
putting  a  strong  hand  on  the  plow.  A  plow  was  constructed 
to  be  thus  operated,  and  it  can  do  its  work  in  no  other  way. 
The  machinery  of  the  government  will  not  do  its  work  unless 
the  strong,  steady  hands  of  the  people  are  put  upon  it.  This 
is  not  done  when  the  people  say  that  politics  is  a  disgraceful 
game,  and  should  be  left  untouched  by  those  having  private 
concerns  and  business  which  engages  their  attention.  This 


I36  TO  FARMERS'    ORGANIZATIONS. 

neglect  serves  to  give  over  the  most  important  interests  to 
those  who  care  but  little  for  their  protection,  and  who  are  will 
ing  to  betray  their  trust  for  their  own  advantage. 

Manifestly,  in  this  matter,  the  people  can  only  act  through 
agents  of  their  selection.  But  that  selection  should  be  freely 
and  intelligently  made  by  the  careful  exercise  of  their  suffrages- 
I  have  said  this  duty  should  not  be  neglected.  A  careless  or 
mistaken  performance  may  be  as  fatal  as  neglect.  All  cannot 
personally  know  the  applicants  for  office  ;  but,  by  careful  in 
quiry,  their  characters  for  fair  dealing  and  honesty,  and  the 
manner  in  which  they  have  fulfilled  the  ordinary  duties  of  life, 
may  be  discovered  as  well  as  the  ability  they  have  shown  in 
the  management  of  their  own  affairs.  Do  their  neighbors  and 
those  who  know  them  well  trust  them,  and  are  they  willing  to 
put  in  their  hands  important  interests  ?  Are  their  personal 
habits  and  their  personal  and  private  relations  good,  and  pure, 
and  clean  ? 

I  believe  that,  in  the  selection  of  those  who  shall  act  for  the 
people  in  the  government,  no  better  rule  can  be  adopted  than 
the  one  suggested  by  these  inquiries.  If  they  are  answered 
satisfactorily,  the  people  will  probably  conclude  that  they  have 
found  the  men  they  wish  to  put  in  public  places,  even  though 
they  lack  a  knowledge  of  the  arts  and  wiles  which  tricksters 
use  to  deceive  and  mislead. 

Be  diligent,  then,  in  your  business,  and  willing  and  anxious 
to  improve  and  expand  it.  This  you  owe  to  yourselves,  to 
your  families,  and  to  the  public.  Be  also  diligent  and  careful 
in  the  performance  of  your  political  duty.  This  you  owe  none 
the  less  to  yourselves  and  to  the  State.  With  every  obligation 
thus  discharged,  your  welfare  and  prosperity  will  be  secured, 
and  you  may  congratulate  yourselves  upon  the  honorable  part 
you  bear  in  the  support  and  maintenance  of  a  free  and  benefi 
cent  government. 


TO  FARMERS'    ORGANIZATIONS.  137 

II. 
At  the  State  Fair  at  Elmira,  September  8,  1884. 

It  affords  me  great  pleasure  to  meet  you  here  to-day,  and 
to  have  an  opportunity  of  inspecting  the  annual  exhibition 
which  illustrates  the  condition  of  the  agriculture  of  our  State. 
I  regard  these  annual  fairs  as  something  connected  with  the 
State  government,  because,  to  some  extent,  at  least,  they  are 
fostered  and  aided  by  public  funds,  and  I  am  sure  that  no 
good  citizen  is  inclined  to  complain  of  the  appropriation  of  a 
small  part  of  the  people's  money  to  the  encouragement  of  this 
important  interest. 

The  fact  that  this  is  done  furnishes  a  distinct  recognition  by 
the  State  of  the  valuable  relation  which  the  farmers  and  its 
farms  bear  to  the  prosperity  and  welfare  of  the  common 
wealth.  We  boast  of  our  manufactures,  exceeding,  as  they 
largely  do,  those  of  any  other  State  ;  but  our  supremacy  is 
clearly  shown  when  we  recall  the  fact  that,  in  addition  to  our 
lead  in  manufactures,  the  value  of  our  farms  and  their  products 
is  second  only  among  the  States. 

There  is  a  fixedness  and  reliability  in  agricultural  pursuits 
which  is  not  always  found  in  other  branches  of  human  effort. 
The  soil  remains  in  its  place,  ready  to  be  tilled  ;  and  the 
farmer,  with  ruddy  health  and  brawny  arm,  depends  alone 
upon  the  work  of  his  hands  and  a  kind  Providence  for  a  re 
ward  of  his  labor.  Thus  our  farmers  are  the  most  independ 
ent  of  our  citizens.  They  produce,  or  have  within  their 
reach,  all  they  need  for  their  necessities  and  for  their  comfort. 
Their  crops  may  be  more  abundant  at  one  harvest  than  at  an 
other,  and  their  products  may  command  a  higher  price  at  one 
market  time  than  another.  These  conditions  may  expand  or 
contract  their  ability  to  indulge  in  luxuries  or  in  expenditures 
not  absolutely  needful,  but  they  should  never  be  in  want  of 
the  necessities  or  comforts  of  life. 

This  is  the  sure  result  of  patient  and  well-regulated  farm 
ing.  When  the  farmer  fails  and  becomes  bankrupt  in  his  busi- 


138  TO  FARMERS'    ORGANIZATIONS. 

ness,  we  may,  I  think,  confidently  look  for  shiftlessness  ;  or  a 
too  ambitious  desire  to  own  more  land  or  stock  than  he  can 
pay  for  ;  or  an  intermeddling  with  matters  that  bear  no  relation 
to  his  farm  ;  or  such  mismanagement  and  ignorance  as  demon 
strate  that  he  has  mistaken  his  vocation.  Fortunes  may  be 
quickly  amassed  in  speculation  and  lost  in  a  day,  leaving  a  bad 
example  and,  perhaps,  demoralization  and  crime.  The  trades 
man  or  the  manufacturer,  by  the  vicissitudes  of  trade,  or 
through  the  allurements  of  the  short  road  to  wealth,  may  in  a 
day  be  overcome  and  bring  disaster  and  ruin  upon  hundreds 
of  his  neighbors.  But  in  the  industrious,  intelligent,  and  con 
tented  farmer  the  State  finds  a  safe  and  profitable  citizen, 
always  contributing  to  its  wealth  and  prosperity.  The  real 
value  of  the  farmer  to  the  State  and  nation  is  not,  however, 
fully  appreciated  until  we  consider  that  he  feeds  the  millions 
of  our  people  who  are  engaged  in  other  pursuits,  and  that 
the  product  of  his  labor  fills  the  avenues  of  our  commerce 
and  supplies  an  important  factor  in  our  financial  relations 
with  other  nations. 

I  have  not  come  here  to  attempt  to  please  you  with  cheap 
and  fulsome  praise,  nor  to  magnify  your  worth  and  your  im 
portance  ;  but  I  have  come  as  the  Chief  Executive  of  the 
State  to  acknowledge  on  its  own  behalf  that  our  farmers  yield 
a  full  return  for  the  benefits  they  receive  from  the  State  gov 
ernment.  I  have  come  to  remind  you  of  the  importance  of  the 
interests  which  you  have  in  charge,  and  to  suggest  that,  not 
withstanding  the  fanner's  independence,  he  cannot  and  must 
not  be  unmindful  of  the  value  and  importance  to  the  interests 
he  holds  of  a  just  and  economical  government.  It  is  his  right 
and  his  duty  to  demand  that  all  unjust  and  inequitable  burdens 
upon  agriculture  and  its  products,  however  caused,  should  be 
removed,  and  that,  while  the  furtherance  of  the  other  interests 
of  the  State  have  due  regard,  this  important  one  should  not  be 
neglected.  Thus,  by  his  labor  as  farmer  and  in  the  full  per 
formance  of  his  duty  as  citizen,  he  will  create  and  secure  to 
himself  his  share  of  the  result  of  his  toil  and  save  and  guard 


TO   FARMERS'    ORGANIZATIONS.  r39 

for  all  the  people  a  most  important  element  in  the  prosperity  of 
the  State. 

III. 

At  the  Virginia  State  Fair,  Richmond,  October  12,  1886. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  VIRGINIA  : 

While  I  thank  you  most  sincerely  for  your  kind  reception 
and  recognize  in  its  heartiness  the  hospitality  for  which  the 
people  of  Virginia  have  always  been  distinguished,  I  am  fully 
aware  that  your  demonstration  of  welcome  is  tendered  not  to 
an  individual,  but  to  an  incumbent  of  an  office  which  crowns 
the  government  of  the  United  States.  The  State  of  Virginia, 
the  Mother  of  Presidents,  seven  of  whose  sons  have  filled  that 
high  office,  to-day  greets  a  President  who  for  the  first  time 
meets  Virginians  upon  Virginia  soil. 

I  congratulate  myself  that  my  first  introduction  to  the  peo 
ple  of  Virginia  occurs  at  a  time  when  they  are  surrounded  by 
the  exhibits  of  the  productiveness  and  prosperity  of  their 
State.  Whatever  there  may  be  in  honor  in  her  history,  and 
however  much  of  pride  there  may  be  in  her  traditions,  her 
true  greatness  is  here  exemplified.  In  our  sisterhood  of 
States  the  leading  and  most  commanding  place  must  be  gained 
and  kept  by  that  commonwealth  which,  by  the  labor  and  in 
telligence  of  her  citizens,  can  produce  the  most  of  those  things 
which  meet  the  necessities  and  desires  of  mankind. 

But  the  full  advantage  of  that  which  may  be  yielded  to  a 
State  by  the  toil  and  ingenuity  of  her  people  is  not  measured 
alone  by  the  money  value  of  the  products.  The  efforts  and 
the  struggles  of  her  farmers  and  her  artisans  not  only  create 
new  values  in  the  field  of  agriculture  and  in  the  arts  and  man 
ufactures,  but  they,  at  the  same  time,  produce  rugged,  self-re 
liant,  and  independent  men,  and  cultivate  that  product  which, 
more  than  all  others,  ennobles  a  State — a  patriotic,  earnest 
American  citizenship. 

This  will  flourish  in    every   part   of   the    American   domain. 


1-4°  TO   FARMERS'    ORGANIZATIONS. 

Neither  drought  nor  rain  can  injure  it,  for  it  takes  root  in  true 
hearts,  enriched  by  love  of  country.  There  are  no  new  varie 
ties  in  this  production.  It  must  be  the  same  wherever  seen, 
and  its  quality  is  neither  sound  nor  genuine  unless  it  grows  to 
deck  and  beautify  an  entire  and  united  nation,  nor  unless  it 
supports  and  sustains  the  institutions  and  the  government 
founded  to  protect  American  liberty  and  happiness. 

The  present  administration  of  the  government  is  pledged  to 
return  for  such  husbandry  not  only  promises,  but  actual 
tenders  of  fairness  and  justice,  with  equal  protection  and  a 
full  participation  in  national  achievements.  If,  in  the  past,  we 
have  been  estranged  and  the  cultivation  of  American  citizen 
ship  has  been  interrupted,  your  enthusiastic  welcome  of  to-day 
demonstrates  that  there  is  an  end  to  such  estrangement,  and 
that  the  time  of  suspicion  and  fear  is  succeeded  by  an  era  of 
faith  and  confidence. 

In  such  a  kindly  atmosphere  and  beneath  such  cheering 
skies  I  greet  the  people  of  Virginia  as  co-laborers  in  the  field 
where  grows  the  love  of  our  united  country. 

God  grant  that  in  the  years  to  come  Virginia — the  Old 
Dominion,  the  Mother  of  Presidents,  she  who  looked  on  the 
nation  at  its  birth — may  not  only  increase  her  trophies  of 
growth  in  agriculture  and  manufactures,  but  that  she  may  be 
among  the  first  of  all  the  States  in  the  cultivation  of  true 
American  citizenship. 


IV. 

To  the  annual  Grange  Picnic  of  Pennsylvania. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 

WASHINGTON,  August  27,  1888. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  hope  I  need  not  assure  you  that  I  should  very  much  enjoy 
meeting  the  large  representation  of  farmers  who  will  gather  at 
Williams  Grove  to-morrow.  1  shall  not  plead  confinement 


TO  FARMERS'    ORGANIZATIONS.  I41 

here  by  official  business  as  my  excuse  for  declining  the  cour 
teous. invitation  I  have  received  to  be  present  at  the  picnic, 
but  shall  frankly  say  to  you  that  the  opportunity,  long  contem 
plated,  to  enjoy  two  or  three  days  of  rest  and  recreation  unex 
pectedly  presents  itself  in  such  a  manner  that,  if  I  avail  myself 
of  it,  I  must,  therefore,  forego  the  pleasure  of  visiting  Williams 
Grove.  I  am  sure  that  I  am  not  calculating  too  much  upon 
the  kindness  and  consideration  of  those  managing  the  picnic 
when  I  believe  they  will  be  content  with  my  non-attendance,  if 
I  am  enabled  thereby  to  improve  the  opportunity  I  am  offered 
to  enjoy  a  much-needed  rest  and  freedom  from  official  care. 

I  have  heard  of  the  character  of  your  exhibition ;  and  the  large 
congregation  of  farmers  and  others  interested  in  subjects  re 
lating  to  farming  which  are  there  brought  together,  the  ex 
hibits,  the  discussion,  and  the  comparison  of  views  which 
necessarily  are  the  accompaniment  of  such  a  meeting,  cannot 
fail  to  be  of  the  utmost  use  to  those  directly  interested;  and 
what  is  useful  to  them  is  useful  to  all  our  people. 

The  reflection  is  an  interesting  and  consoling  one  that  in 
the  midst  of  political  turmoil,  in  the  feverish  anxiety  of  the 
marts  of  trade,  and  in  the  rush  and  hurry  of  financial  opera 
tions,  our  agriculturists  pursue  the  even  tenor  of  their  way  at 
all  times,  furnishing  the  most  stable  support  of  our  country's 
prosperity,  and  quietly  supplying  the  most  reliable  source  of 
our  greatness  and  strength.  When  our  farmers  are  prosperous 
and  contented,  the  welfare  and  advancement  of  the  nation  are 
secured. 

Hoping  that  the  picnic  of  1888  will  exceed  all  prior  ones  in 
the  enjoyments  and  benefits  accorded  to  those  in  attendance, 
I  am, 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


*42  TO  FARMERS'    ORGANIZATIONS. 

V. 
To  a  Steubenville  (O.)  Lodge  of  the  Farmers'  Alliance. 

NEW  YORK,  March  24,   1890. 
J.  A.  HILL,  ESQ.,  Corresponding  Secretary,  etc. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  received  your  letter,  accompanied  by 
a  copy  of  the  declaration  of  principles  of  the  Farmers'  Al 
liance. 

I  see  nothing  in  this  declaration  that  cannot  be  fully  indorsed 
by  any  man  who  loves  his  country,  who  believes  that  the  ob 
ject  of  our  government  should  be  the  freedom,  prosperity,  and 
happiness  of  all  our  people,  and  who  believes  that  justice 
and  fairness  to  all  are  necessary  conditions  to  its  useful  ad 
ministration. 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that  the  farmers  of  the  country 
were  especially  interested  in  an  equitable  adjustment  of  our 
tariff  system.  The  indifference  they  have  shown  to  that  ques 
tion,  and  the  ease  with  which  they  have  been  led  away  from 
a  sober  consideration  of  their  needs  and  their  rights  as  related 
to  this  subject,  have  excited  my  surprise. 

Struggle  as  they  may,  our  fanners  must  continue  to  be 
purchasers  and  consumers  of  numberless  things  enhanced  in 
cost  by  tariff  regulations.  Surely  they  have  the  right  to  insist 
that  this  cost  shall  not  be  increased  for  the  purpose  of  collect 
ing  unnecessary  revenue  or  to  give  undue  advantage  to  domes 
tic  manufactures.  The  plea  that  our  infant  industries  need 
e  protection  which  thus  impoverishes  the  farmer  and  con 
sumer  is,  in  view  of  our  natural  advantages  and  the  skill  and 
ingenuity  of  our  people,  a  hollow  pretext. 

Struggle  as  they  may,  our  farmers  cannot  escape  the  condi 
tions  which  fix  the  price  of  what  they  produce  and  sell  ac 
cording  to  the  rates  which  prevail  in  foreign  markets  flooded 
w.th  the  competition  of  countries  enjoying  freer  exchange  of 
trade  than  we.  The  plausible  presentation  of  the  blessings 
f  a  home  market  should  not  deceive  our  depressed  and 
impoverished  agriculturists.  There  is  no  home  market  for 


TO   FARMERS'    ORGANIZATIONS.  143 

them  which  does  not  take  its  instructions  from  the  seaboard, 
and  the  seaboard  transmits  the  word  of  the  foreign  markets. 
Because  my  conviction  that  there  should  be  a  modifica 
tion  of  our  tariff  laws  arose  principally  from  an  apprecia 
tion  of  the  wants  of  the  vast  army  of  consumers,  compris 
ing  our  farmers,  our  artisans,  and  our  workingmen,  and 
because  their  condition  has  led  me  to  protest  against  present 
impositions,  I  am  especially  glad  to  see  these  sections  of 
my  fellow-countrymen  arousing  themselves  to  the  impor 
tance  of  tariff  reform. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 
I. 

At  the  Commercial  Exchange,  Philadelphia,  September  16,  1887. 

I  AM  glad  I  have  an  opportunity  to  meet  so  large  a  repre 
sentation  of  the  business  men  of  Philadelphia.  It  is  well 
that  we  should  not  entirely  forget,  in  the  midst  of  our  centen 
nial  jubilee,  that  the  aim  and  purpose  of  good  government 
tend,  after  all,  to  the  advancement  of  the  material  interests  of 
the  people  and  the  increase  of  their  trade  and  commerce.  The 
thought  has  sometimes  occurred  to  me  that,  in  the  hurry  and 
rush  of  business,  there  might  well  be  infused  a  little  more 
patriotism  than  we  are  wont  to  see,  and  a  little  more  recogni 
tion  of  the  fact  that  a  wholesome  political  sentiment  is  closely 
related  not  only  to  the  general  good,  but  to  the  general  suc 
cess  of  business.  Of  course,  our  citizens  engaged  in  business 
are  quick  to  see  the  bearings  of  any  policy  which  the  govern 
ment  may  adopt,  as  it  affects  their  personal  success  and  their 
accumulation.  But  I  would  like  to  see  that  broad  and  patriotic 
sentiment  among  them  which  can  see  beyond  their  peculiar 
personal  interests,  and  which  can  recognize  that  the  advance 
ment  of  the  entire  country  is  an  object  for  which  they  may 
well  strive,  even  sometimes  to  the  diminution  of  their  con 
stantly  increasing  profits. 

Must  we  always  look  for  the  political  opinions  of  our  busi 
ness  men  precisely  where  they  suppose  their  immediate  pe 
cuniary  advantage  is  found  ?  I  know  how  vain  it  is  to  hope  for 
the  eradication  of  a  selfish  motive  in  all  the  affairs  of  life  ;  but 
I  am  reminded  that  we  celebrate,  to-day,  the  triumph  of 


144 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    145 

patriotism  over  selfishness.  Will  anyone  say  that  the  conces 
sions  of  the  Constitution  were  not  well  made,  or  that  we  are 
not  to-day  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  the  blessings  resulting 
from  a  due  regard  for  all  the  conflicting  interests  represented 
by  the  different  States  which  were  united  a  hundred  years 
ago  ? 

I  believe  the  complete  benefits  promised  to  the  people  by 
our  form  of  government  can  only  be  secured  by  an  exercise  of 
the  same  spirit  of  toleration  for  each  other's  rights  and  in 
terests  in  which  it  had  its  birth.  This  spirit  will  prevail  when 
the  business  men  of  the  country  cultivate  political  thought  ; 
when  they  cease  to  eschew  participation  in  political  action  ; 
and  when  such  thought  and  action  are  guided  by  better 
motives  than  purely  selfish  and  exclusive  benefit. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  there  is  no  place  in  the  country 
where  such  a  condition  can  be  so  properly  and  successfully 
maintained  as  here,  among  the  enlightened  and  enterprising 
business  men  of  Philadelphia. 


II. 

Before  the  Milwaukee  Merchants'  Association,  October  7,  1887. 

I  feel  like  thanking  you  for  remembering  on  this  occasion 
the  President  of  the  United  States  ;  for  I  am  sure  you  but  in 
tend  a  respectful  recognition  of  the  dignity  and  importance  of 
the  high  office  I,  for  the  time  being,  hold  in  trust  for  you  and 
for  the  American  people. 

It  is  a  high  office,  because  it  represents  the  sovereignty  of 
a^free  and  mighty  people.  It  is  full  of  solemn  responsibility 
and  duty,  because  it  embodies,  in  a  greater  degree  than  any 
other  office  on  earth,  the  suffrage  and  the  trust  of  such  a 
people,  j  As  an  American  citizen,  chosen  from  the  mass  of  his 
fellow-countrymen  to  assume  for  a  time  this  responsibility  and 
this  duty,  I  acknowledge  with  patriotic  satisfaction  your 
tribute  to  the  office  which  belongs  to  us  all. 


146    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

And  because  it  belongs  to  all  the  people  the  obligation  is 
manifest  on  their  part  to  maintain  a  constant  and  continuous 
watchfulness  and  interest  concerning  its  care  and  operation. 
Their  duty  is  not  entirely  done  when  they  have  exercised  their 
suffrage  and  indicated  their  choice  of  the  incumbent.  Nor  is 
their  duty  performed  by  settling  down  to  bitter,  malignant,  and 
senseless  abuse  of  all  that  is  done  or  cittempted  to  be  done  by 
the  incumbent  selected.  The  acts  of  an  administration  should 
not  be  approved  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  for  no  better 
reason  than  that  it  represents  a  political  party  ;  but  more  un 
patriotic  than  all  others  are  those  who,  having  neither  party 
discontent  nor  fair  greund  of  criticism  to  excuse  or  justify 
their  conduct,  rail  because  of  personal  disappointment  ;  who 
misrepresent  for  sensational  purposes,  and  who  profess  to  see 
swift  destruction  in  the  rejection  of  their  plans  for  govern 
mental  management. 

.  After  all,  we  need  have  no  fear  that  the  American  people 
*\ill  permit  this  high  office  of  President  to  suffer.  There  is  a 
patriotic  sentiment  abroad  which,  in  the  midst  of  all  party 
feeling  and  of  party  disappointment,  will  assert  itself  and  will 
insist  that  the  office  which  stands  for  the  people's  will  shall, 
in  all  its  vigor,  minister  to  their  prosperity  arid  welfare.  "\ 


III. 

To  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  November  4,  1887. 

MESSRS.    HENRY  HENTZ,   CHARLES  WATROUS,  AND  OTHERS, 

Committee  : 

GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  received  your  invitation  to  attend  the 
annual  banquet  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  State  of 
New  York  on  the  evening  of  the  i5th  instant.  It  would  cer 
tainly  give  me  great  pleasure  to  be  present  on  that  occasion 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    14? 

and  meet  those  who,  to  a  great  extent,  have  in  charge  the  im 
portant  business  interests  represented  in  your  association.  I 
am  sure,  too,  that  I  should  derive  profit  as  well  as  pleasure 
from  such  a  meeting. 

Those  charged  by  the  people  with  the  management  of  their 
government  cannot  fail  to  enhance  their  usefulness  by  a  famil 
iarity  with  business  conditions  and  intimacy  with  business 
men,  since  good  government  has  no  more  important  mission 
than  the  stimulation  and  protection  of  the  activities  of  the 
country. 

This  relation  between  governments  and  business  suggests 
the  thought  that  the  members  of  such  associations  as  yours 
owe  to  themselves  and  to  all  the  people  of  the  land  a  thought 
ful  discharge  of  their  political  obligations,  guided  by  their 
practical  knowledge  of  affairs,  to  the  end  that  there  may  be 
impressed  upon  the  administration  of  our  government  a  busi 
ness  character  and  tendency  free  from  the  diversion  of  passion, 
and  unmoved  by  sudden  gusts  of  excitement. 

But  the  most  wholesome  purpose  of  their  political  action 
will  not  be  accomplished  by  an  insistence  upon  their  exclusive 
claims  and  selfish  benefits,  regardless  of  the  welfare  of  the 
people  at  large.  Interdependence  is  so  thoroughly  an  element 
in  our  national  existence  that  a  patriotic  and  generous  heed  to 
the  general  good  sense  will  best  subserve  every  particular 
interest. 

I  regret  that  my  official  duties  and  engagements  prevent  the 
acceptance  of  your  courteous  invitation,  and,  expressing  the 
hope  that  the  banquet  may  be  a  most  enjoyable  and  interesting 
occasion  to  those  present, 
I  am, 

Very  truly  yours, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


H^    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

IV. 

POLITICAL  SELFISHNESS  AND  ITS  ANTIDOTES.* 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

When  I  see  about  me  this  gathering  of  business  men  and 
merchants,  I  find  it  impossible  to  rid  myself  of  the  impressive 
thought  that  here  is  represented  that  factor  in  civilized  life 
which  measures  the  progress  of  a  people,  which  constitutes  the 
chief  care  of  every  enlightened  government,  and  which  gives 
to  a  country  the  privilege  of  recognized  membership  in  the 
community  of  nations. 

Our  business  men  cannot,  if  they  would,  escape  the  responsi 
bility  which  this  condition  casts  upon  them— a  responsibility 
most  exacting  and  invested  with  the  seriousness  which  always 
results  from  a  just  apprehension  of  man's  relation  to  his  fellow- 
man  and  the  obligation  due  from  a  citizen  to  his  government. 
They  can  find  no  pretext  for  indifference  in  the  self-complacent 
claim  that  under  American  institutions,  as  in  other  times  and  in 
foreign  lands,  business  men  and  merchants  have  only  gained  a 
recognition  of  their  importance  and  value  as  it  has  been  forced 
from  a  government  in  which  they  had  no  representation  and 
from  rulers  who  looked  upon  their  vocation  with  contempt. 
They  cannot  absolve  themselves  from  loyal  duty  to  a  govern 
ment  which  has,  at  all  times,  invited  them  to  a  high  place  in 
public  counsels  and  which  has  always  ungrudgingly  conceded 
their  indispensable  value  in  the  growth  and  progress  of  our 
republic. 

These  considerations  plainly  point  out  your  responsibi  ,ity 
and  duty  as  members  of  the  guild  of  business  and  as  belonging 
to  the  fellowship  of  trade. 

But  we  cannot  avoid  other  reflections  leading  in  the  same 
direction  and  related  to  you  alone— the  business  men  of  Boston. 
The  scene  of  your  activity  is  the  commercial  center  of  a  great 

*  An  address  delivered  at  the  banquet  of  the  Merchants'  Association  of 
Boston,  December  12,  1889. 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    149 

and  ancient  commonwealth,  rich  in  patriotic  traditions.  It 
was  upon  the  waters  of  your  harbor  that  the  first  active  and 
physical  defiance  and  opposition  were  made  to  odious  and  un 
fair  imperial  legislation  affecting  colonial  trade  ;  and  the  first 
battle  by  Americans  for  liberty  of  the  person,  and  for  freedom 
from  unjust  and  oppressive  restraint  upon  business,  was  fought 
within  sight  of  your  warehouses. 

You  have,  besides,  inherited  a  trust  which  shades  with  sober 
sentiment  your  obligation  to  your  country  and  your  fellow- 
citizens.  With  the  birth  of  American  trade  there  arose  on  the 
spot  merchants  of  strong  sense  and  enlightened  enterprise,  chiefs 
among  their  fellows,  independent  and  self-reliant,  willing  to 
chance  their  success  upon  their  own  effort  and  foresight,  inflex 
ibly  honest  and  intensely  jealous  of  their  commercial  honor. 
Upon  your  wharves  and  in  your  counting  rooms  they  wrought 
out  their  well-earned  fortunes.  Their  ships  were  found  in 
every  ocean-path,  and  they  made  their  country  known  in  the 
trade  transactions  of  the  world.  Abroad  they  gained  willing 
confidence  and  credit  by  their  commercial  integrity  and  pro 
bity,  and  at  home  they  were  the  pride  of  their  countrymen. 

These  were  the  old  Boston  merchants.  You,  their  business 
heirs  and  successors,  will  pardon  me  if  I  remind  you  to-night 
that  the  commanding  influence  of  these  men  did  not  rest  upon 
immense  fortunes,  made  in  a  day  ;  but  resulted  from  their  well- 
known  honor  and  scrupulous  good  faith,  which  led  them  to  con 
cede  to  all  even  the  uttermost  fraction  of  right.  Nor  did  they 
forget  their  duties  of  citizenship.  They  jealously  watched  the 
operations  of  their  government,  and  exacted  from  it  only 
economy  and  honesty  and  a  just  measure  of  care  and  security  for 
themselves  and  the  interests  they  had  in  charge. 

The  Boston  merchant  of  to-day  has  not  less  integrity  and 
virtue  than  his  predecessor  ;  but  surely  we  are  not  called 
upon,  by  the  fear  of  controversy,  to  close  our  eyes  to  the  fact 
that  his  environment  is  vastly  different.  There  is  among  our 
people  less  of  meaning  embodied  in  the  sentiment  that  the 
government  upon  which  we  have  staked  all  our  hopes  and  as- 


150    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

pirations,  requires,  for  its  successful  maintenance,  a  patriotic  re 
gard  for  the  aggregate  of  the  happiness  and  prosperity  of  all 
our  people  and  a  willing  consent  to  a  fair  distribution  of  the 
benefits  of  our  free  institutions. 

Equal  rights  and  impartial  justice  are  stipulations  of  the 
compact  we  have  entered  into  with  each  other  as  American 
citizens  ;  and  so  nicely  adjusted  is  this  plan  of  our  political 
association,  that  favoritism  for  the  sole  advantage  of  any  sec 
tion  of  our  membership  inevitably  results  in  an  encroachment 
upon  the  benefits  justly  due  to  others.  But  these  things  sit  so 
lightly  upon  the  consciences  of  many  that  a  spirit  of  selfish 
ness  is  abroad  in  the  land,  which  has  bred  the  habit  of  clamor 
ous  importunity  for  government  aid  in  behalf  of  special  inter 
ests — imperfectly  disguised  under  the  cloak  of  solicitude  for 
the  public  good. 

Can  we  see  no  contrast  between  the  sturdy  self-reliance  of 
the  Boston  merchant  in  the  days  that  are  past,  and  the  attitude 
you  are  invited  to  assume  as  dependents  upon  the  favor  of  the 
government  and  beneficiaries  under  its  taxing  power  ?  Is  there 
not  a  difference  between  the  ideas  that  formerly  prevailed  con 
cerning  the  just  and  wholesome  relations  which  should  exist 
between  the  government  and  the  business  of  the  country,  and 
the  present  tendency  toward  a  government  partnership  in 
trade  ?  And  was  there  a  hint  in  former  days  that  especial  ad 
vantages  thus  once  secured,  constituted  a  vested  right  which  in 
no  event  should  in  the  least  be  disturbed  ? 

Political  selfishness  cheapens  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
their  apprehension  of  the  character  and  functions  of  the  govern 
ment  ;  it  distorts  every  conception  of  the  duty  of  good  citizen 
ship,  and  creates  an  atmosphere  in  which  iniquitous  purposes 
and  designs  lose  their  odious  features.  It  begins  when  a  per 
verted  judgment  is  won  to  the  theory  that  political  action  may 
be  used  solely  for  private  gain  and  advantage,  and  when  a  ten 
der  conscience  is  quieted  by  the  ingenious  argument  that  such 
gain  and  advantage  are  identical  with  the  public  welfare. 
This  stage  having  been  reached,  and  self-interest  being  now 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    15* 

fully  aroused,  agencies  are  used  and  practices  permitted  in  the 
accomplishment  of  its  purposes,  which,  seen  in  the  pure  light 
of  disinterested  patriotism,  are  viewed  with  fear  and  hatred. 
The  independent  thought,  and  free  political  preference  of 
those  whom  Fate  has  made  dependent  upon  daily  toil  for  hard- 
earned  bread,  are  strangled  and  destroyed  by  intimidation  and 
the  fear  of  loss  of  employment.  Vile,  unsavory  forms  rise  to 
the  surface  of  our  agitated  political  waters,  and  gleefully  an 
ticipate,  in  the  anxiety  of  selfish  interest,  their  opportunity  to 
fatten  upon  corruption  and  debauched  suffrage. 

This  train  of  thought  leads  us  to  consider  the  imminent  dan 
ger  which  threatens  us  from  the  intimidation  and  corruption  of 
our  voters. 

It  is  too  late  to  temporize  with  these  evils,  or  to  speak  of  them 
otherwise  than  in  the  plainest  terms.  We  are  spared  the  labor 
of  proving  their  existence,  for  all  admit  it.  That  they  are 
terribly  on  the  increase  all  must  concede. 

Manifestly,  if  the  motives  of  all  our  citizens  were  unselfish 
and  patriotic,  and  if  they  sought  in  political  action  only  their 
share  of  the  advantage  accruing  from  the  advance  of  our  coun 
try  at  all  points  toward  her  grand  destiny,  there  would  be  no 
place  or  occasion  for  the  perversion  of  our  suffrage.  Thus 
the  inauguration  of  the  intimidation  and  corruption  of  our 
voters  may  be  justly  charged  to  selfish  schemes  seeking  success 
through  political  action.  But  these  evils  have  been  neglected 
by  honest  men,  disgusted  with  all  political  endeavor  ;  they 
have  been  tolerated  by  respectable  men  who,  in  weakness  of 
patriotic  sentiment,  have  regarded  them  as  only  phases  of 
shrewd  political  management,  and  they  have  been  actually  en 
couraged  by  the  honors  which  have  been  bestowed  upon  those 
who  boast  of  their  use  of  such  agencies  in  aid  of  party  su 
premacy. 

Many  of  us,  therefore,  may  take  to  ourselves  a  share  of  blame, 
when  we  find  confronting  us  these  perils  which  threaten  the 
existence  of  our  free  institutions,  the  preservation  of  our  na 
tional  honor,  and  the  perpetuity  of  our  country.  The  condition 


IS2    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

annexed  to  the  founding  of  our  government  upon  the  suffrage 
of  the  people  was  that  the  suffrage  should  be  free  and  pure. 
We  consented  to  abide  by  the  honest  preponderance  of  politi 
cal  opinion,  but  we  did  not  consent  that  a  free  vote,  expressing 
the  intelligent  and  thoughtful  sentiment  of  the  voter,  should 
be  balanced  by  a  vote  of  intimidation  and  fear,  or  by  an  un 
clean,  corrupt  vote  disgracefully  bought  and  treacherously 
sold. 

Let  us  look  with  a  degree  of  pity  and  charity  upon  those  who 
yield  to  fear  and  intimidation  in  the  exercise  of  their  right  of 
suffrage.  Though  they  ought  not  thus  to  yield,  we  cannot  for 
get  that,  as  against  their  free  ballot,  they  see  in  the  scale  their 
continued  employment,  the  comforts  of  their  homes,  and  the 
maintenance  of  their  families.  We  need  not  stifle  our  scorn 
and  contempt  for  the  wretch  who  basely  sells  his  vote,  and 
who  for  a  bribe  betrays  his  trust  of  citizenship.  And  yet  the 
thought  will  intrude  itself  that  he  but  follows,  in  a  low  and 
vulgar  fashion,  the  example  of  those  who  proceed  upon  the 
theory  that  political  action  may  be  turned  to  private  gain. 

But  whether  we  pity  or  whether  we  hate,  our  betrayal  is  none 
the  less  complete  ;  nor  will  either  pity  or  hate  restore  our  birth 
right.  But  we  know  that  when  political  selfishness  is  destroyed 
our  dangers  will  disappear  ;  and  though  the  way  to  its  strong 
hold  may  be  long  and  weary,  we  will  follow  it— fighting  as  we 
go.  There  will  be  no  surrender,  nor  will  there  be  desertions 
from  our  ranks.  Selfishness  and  corruption  have  not  yet 
achieved  a  lasting  triumph,  and  their  bold  defiance  will  but 
hasten  the  day  of  their  destruction. 

As  we  struggle  on,  and  confidently  invite  a  direct  conflict 
with  these  intrenched  foes  of  our  political  safety,  we  have  not 
failed  to  see  another  hope,  which  has  manifested  itself  to  all 
the  honest  people  of  the  land.  It  teaches  them  that  though 
they  may  not  immediately  destroy  at  their  source  the  evils 
which  afflict  them,  they  may  check  their  malign  influence  and 
guard  themselves  against  their  baneful  results.  It  assures 
them,  that,  if  political  virtue  and  rectitude  cannot  at  once  be 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AMD  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    i$3 

thoroughly  restored  to  the  republic,  the  activity  of  baser  ele 
ments  may  be  discouraged.  It  inspires  them  with  vigilant 
watchfulness  and  a  determination  to  prevent  as  far  as  possible 
their  treacherous  betrayal  by  those  who  are  false  to  their  obli 
gations  of  citizenship. 

This  hope,  risen  like  the  Star  in  the  East,  has  fixed  the  gaze 
of  our  patriotic  fellow-countrymen  ;  and  everywhere — in  our 
busy  marts  of  trade  and  on  our  farms,  in  our  cities  and  in  our 
villages,  in  the  dwellings  of  the  rich  and  in  the  homes  of  the 
poor,  in  our  universities  and  in  our  workshops,  in  our  bank 
ing  houses  and  in  the  ranks  of  inexorable  toil — they  greet 
with  enthusiastic  acclaim  the  advent  of  ballot  reform. 

There  are  no  leaders  in  this  cause.  Those  who  seem  to 
lead  the  movement  are  but  swept  to  the  front  by  the  surging 
force  of  patriotic  sentiment.  It  rises  far  above  partisanship  ; 
and  only  the  heedless,  the  sordid,  and  the  depraved  refuse  to 
join  in  the  crusade. 

This  reform  is  predicated  upon  the  cool  deliberation  of  polit 
ical  selfishness  in  its  endeavor  to  prostitute  our  suffrage  to  the 
purposes  of  private  gain.  It  is  rightly  supposed  that  corrup 
tion  of  the  voter  is  entered  upon  with  such  business  calculation 
that  the  corrupter  will  only  pay  a  bribe  when  he  has  ocular 
proof  that  the  suffrage  he  has  bargained  for  is  cast  in  his 
interest.  So,  too,  it  is  reasonably  expected  that  if  the  employee 
or  laborer  is  at  the  time  of  casting  his  ballot  removed  from 
the  immediate  control  of  his  employer,  the  futility  of  fear  and 
intimidation  will  lead  to  their  abandonment. 

The  change  demanded  by  this  reform  in  the  formalities  sur 
rounding  the  exercise  of  the  privilege  of  suffrage  has  given 
rise  to  real  or  pretended  solicitude  for  the  rights  of  our  voters  ; 
and  the  fear  has  been  expressed  that  inability  on  the  part  of 
electors  to  conform  to  the  requirements  of  the  proposed  change 
might  produce  great  inconvenience,  and  in  some  cases  result  in 
disfranchisement.  It  has  even  been  suggested  that  the  inau 
guration  of  the  new  plan  might  encroach  upon  constitutional 
guarantees. 


154    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

It  will  not  do  to  accuse  of  hostility  to  the  reform  all  those 
who  present  these  objections  ;  but  it  is  not  amiss  to  inspect 
their  ranks  for  enemies  in  disguise.  Though  the  emergency 
which  is  upon  us  is  full  of  danger,  and  though  we  sadly  need 
relief,  all  rights  should  be  scrupulously  preserved.  But  there 
should  be  no  shuffling,  and  no  frivolous  objections  should  be 
tolerated.  When  a  dwelling  is  in  flames  we  use  no  set  phrase 
of  speech  to  warn  its  inmates,  and  no  polite  and  courtly  touch 
to  effect  their  rescue.  Experience  has  often  demonstrated 
how  quickly  obstacles,  which  seemed  plausible  if  not  convinc 
ing  when  urged  against  a  measure  of  reform,  are  dissipated  by 
the  test  of  trial,  and  how  readily  a  new  order  of  things  adjusts 
itself  to  successful  use. 

I  remember  the  inauguration  of  another  reform  ;  and  I  have 
seen  it  grow  and  extend,  until  it  has  become  firmly  established 
in  our  laws  and  practice.  It  is  to-day  our  greatest  safeguard 
against  the  complete  and  disgraceful  degradation  of  our  public 
service.  It  had  its  enemies,  and  all  of  them  are  not  yet  silenced. 
Those  openly  and  secretly  unfriendly  said  in  the  beginning 
that  the  scheme  was  impracticable  and  unnecessary;  that  it 
created  an  office-holding  class  ;  that  it  established  burdensome 
and  delusive  tests  for  entry  in  the  public  service  which  should 
be  open  to  all  ;  that  it  put  in  the  place  of  real  merit  and  effi 
ciency,  scholastic  acquirements  ;  that  it  limited  the  discretion 
of  those  charged  with  the  selection  of  public  employees,  and 
that  it  was  unconstitutional.  But  its  victory  came,— wrought 
by  the  force  of  enlightened  public  sentiment,— and  upon  its 
trial  every  objection  which  had  been  urged  against  it  was  com 
pletely  discredited. 

As  it  has  been  with  civil  service  reform,  so  will  it  be  with 
ballot  reform,  except  that  the  coming  victory  will  be  more 
speedily  achieved  and  will  be  more  complete. 

And  as  the  grand  old  State  of  Massachusetts  was  foremost 
to  adopt  and  demonstrate  the  practicability  and  usefulness  of 
civil  service  reform,  so  has  she  been  first  to  adopt  a  thorough 
scheme  of  ballot  reform  and  to  prove  in  practice  its  value  and 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    155 

the  invalidity  of  the  objections  made  against  it.  We  thank 
Massachusetts  to-night  for  all  that  she  has  done  for  these  re 
forms  ;  and  we  of  New  York  hope  that  our  Empire  State  will 
soon  be  keeping  step  with  her  sister  States  in  the  enforcement 
of  an  effective  and  honest  measure  of  ballot  reform. 

In  conclusion  let  me  say  that  good  men  have  no  cause  for 
discouragement.  Though  there  are  dangers  which  threaten 
our  welfare  and  safety,  the  virtue  and  patriotism  of  the  Ameri 
can  people  are  not  lost,  and  we  shall  find  them  sufficient  for 
us.  If  in  too  great  confidence  they  slumber,  they  will  not 
always  sleep.  Let  them  but  be  aroused  from  lethargy  and  in 
difference  by  the  consciousness  of  peril,  and  they  will  burst 
the  bonds  of  political  selfishness,  revive  their  political  freedom, 
and  restore  the  purity  of  their  suffrage. 

Thus  will  they  discharge  the  sacred  trust  committed  to  their 
keeping  ;  thus  will  they  still  proudly  present  to  the  world  proof 
of  the  value  of  free  institutions  ;  thus  will  they  demonstrate 
the  strength  and  perpetuity  of  a  government  by  the  people  ; 
thus  will  they  establish  American  patriotism  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  our  land;  and  thus  will  they  preserve 
for  themselves  and  for  posterity  their  God-given  inheritance  of 
freedom  and  justice  and  peace  and  happiness. 


V. 

At  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce  Banquet,  November 

19,  1889. 

As  I  speak  of  the  honorary  members  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  I  shall,  first  of  all,  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity 
here  afforded  to  express  my  thanks  for  the  action  of  that  body 
which  placed  my  name  upon  its  roll  of  honor.  It  is  a  source 
of  great  gratification  to  me  to  be  thus  related,  though  only  nomi 
nally,  to  the  vast  business  interests  which  this  organization 
has  in  its  charge  and  keeping,  and  I  think  and  trust  that  I 


'5*    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

do  not  in  the  least  underestimate  the  improvement  and  benefit 
which  may  result  to  me  from  such  relationship. 

The  business  of  a  country  is  its  life  blood  ;  and  all  who  are 

rectly  or  indirectly  connected  with  it,  who  are  acquainted 
with  its  operations  and  are  able  to  discern  the  manner  in 
Which  it  may  be  benefited  or  injured,  and  the  causes  which 
affect  it,  should  be,  for  these  reasons,  better  able  to  perform 
welUheir  duties  as  citizens. 

Good  government  is  the  object  of  every  patriotic  aspiration 
of  our  people.  But  good  government  is  so  unlike  a  thing  to 
be  gamed  by  dreaming  of  it,  and  is  something  so  practical  and 
palpable,  that  it  is  best  judged  by  business  tests  ;  and  thus  the 
condition  of  the  business  of  a  country  is  properly  considered  a 
reliable  indicator  of  the  nature  of  its  government  and  the 
manner  in  which  such  government  is  administered. 

Of  course,  the  conception  of  business  here  intended  must 
not  be  confused  with  the  selfish  scurry  and  sordid  clutching 
after  wealth  which  we  see  about  us  every  day-heedless  of  the 
rights  of  others  and  utterly  regardless  of  any  obligation  to  aid 
in  the  nation's  growth  and  greatness.  This  is  not  the  busi 
ness  of  a  country  ;  nor  should  the  narrow  and  circumscribed 
success  of  such  endeavor  be  recognized  as  evidence  of  a  benefi 
cent  government  or  of  wholesome  laws.  The  active  strong 
impulse  which,  starting  from  important  centers,  steadily  per 
meates  the  entire  land,  giving  to  our  tradesmen,  everywhere 
healthy  prosperity,  to  our  toilers  remunerative  labor,  and  to 
our  homes  comfort  and  contentment,  constitute  phases  of  the 
business  of  our  country  which  we  love  to  recognize  as  proofs 

the  value  of  our  free  institutions  and  demonstrations  of  the 

benign  operation  of  just  legislation.     But  when  these  factors 

)f  general  thrift  and  happiness  are  wanting,  we  may  well  fear 

that  we  ane  not  in  the  enjoyment  of  all   the  blessings  of  crOod 

government. 

Since  business,  properly  defined,  is  thus  closely  related  to 
government,  it  plainly  follows  that,  if  those  intrusted  with  pub 
lic  affairs  were*  more  identified  with  men  like  those  formino- 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    157 

the  active  membership  of  this  Chamber  of  Commerce,  and 
were  better  informed  concerning  the  interests  which  such  men 
represent,  the  country  would  be  the  gainer.  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  say  that  we  should  have  more  business  men  in  our  national 
legislature.  If  this  should  be  conceded,  and  the  question  of 
reaching  that  result  is  presented,  but  two  modes  can  be  sug 
gested—either  to  make  business  men  of  those  elected  or 
choose  business  men  in  the  first  instance.  The  latter  plan  is 
manifestly  the  best,  and,  indeed,  the  only  practical  one. 

I  must  confess  that,  fresh  from  public  employment,  as  I  look 
about  me  here,  I  feel  like  a  good  judge  of  valuable  material, 
when  he  sees  it  in  abundance  unused  and  going  to  waste  be 
fore  his  eyes.  It  is  well  for  you  to  be  conversant  with  markets, 
and  you  are  obliged  to  study  them.  But  it  is  undeniable  that 
the  laws  of  your  country  and  their  execution  are  so  related  to 
markets  that  they,  too,  are  worthy  of  your  attention.  I  know 
that  participation  in  the  public  service  would  involve  an  inter 
ruption  of  your  ordinary  vocations,  but  is  it  not  your  duty  to 
suffer  this  for  the  sake  of  the  good  you  can  accomplish  ?  Nor 
is  the  subject  devoid  of  an  inducement  based  upon  self-interest, 
for  you  must  agree  with  me  that  business  men  upon  Congres 
sional  committees,  or  upon  the  floor  of  Congress,  could  accom 
plish  much  more  in  the  direction  of  their  own  protection  than 
by  periodically  seeking  admission  to  committee  rooms,  or 
awaiting  the  convenience  of  legislators  who  need  their  in 
structions. 

I  cannot  be  mistaken  when  I  say  that  some  dangers  which 
beset  our  political  life  might  be  avoided  or  safely  met  if  our 
business  men  would  more  actively  share  in  public  affairs,  and 
that  nothing  would  better  befit  the  character  and  object  of 
your  organization  than  a  practical  movement  in  this  direction. 
I  hasten  now  to  say  that  I  have  not  forgotten  the  topic  with 
which  I  started.  I  am  embarrassed  in  treating  of  it  because, 
in  theory,  the  honorary  members  are  those  who  have  rendered 
useful  public  service.  As  the  last  and  least  of  these  members 
I  feel  that  I  can  do  little  more  than  acknowledge  my  grati- 


I.58    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

tude  for  the  privilege  of  being  counted  with  the  grand  men 
whose  names  stand  above  me  on  the  roll— the  living  and  the 
dead. 

There  has  been  much  discussion  lately  concerning  the  dis 
position  which  should  be  made  of  our  ex-Presidents,  and  many 
plans  have  been  suggested  for  putting  us  out  of  the  way.  I 
am  sure  we  are  very  sorry  to  make  so  much  trouble,  but  I  do 
hope  that,  whatever  conclusion  may  be  reached,  the  recom 
mendation  of  a  Kentucky  newspaper  editor,  to  take  us  out  and 
shoot  us,  will  not  be  adopted.  Prior  to  the  4th  day  of  last 
March  I  did  not  appreciate  as  well  as  I  do  now  the  objections 
to  this  proceeding,  but  I  have  had  time  to  reflect  upon  the 
subject  since  and  1  find  excellent  reasons  for  opposing  this 
plan. 

If  I  should  be  allowed  to  express  myself  upon  this  question 
I  would  suggest  that  the  best  way  to  deal  with  your  trouble 
some  ex-Presidents  is  to  let  them  alone  and  give  them  the 
same  chance  to  earn  an  honest  living  that  other  people  have. 
And  if  for  any  reason  you  desire  to  honor  them,  it  cannot  be 
done  better  than  by  putting  their  names  upon  the  roll  of  honor 
ary  membership  of  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce. 


VI. 

.//  the  Piano  and  Organ  Manufacturers   Banquet,  New  York, 
April  24,  1890. 

MR.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

The  words  of  the  toast  to  which  I  am  to  respond  may  just 
at  this  time  appear  to  have  a  somewhat  threatening  sound. 
In  the  midst  of  unusual  thought  and  discussion  among  our 
fellow-citizens  upon  economic  subjects,  the  phrase  "  our 
American  industries "  is  very  commonly  used  ;  and  the 
furtherance  of  these  industries  is  claimed  to  be  the  patriotic 
purpose  of  those  in  both  political  parties  who  lead  in  such 
thought  and  discussion. 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    159 

Thus  it  happens  that  the  announcement  of  "  Our  American 
Industries,"  as  a  topic  of  discourse,  has  almost  come  to  be  a 
signal  for  combat  between  those  not  at  all  loath  to  fly  at  each 
other  in  wordy  warfare  over  the  subject  of  tariff  reform. 
But  if  there  are  any  persons  here  who  now  feel  an  inclination 
to  gird  up  their  loins  for  the  fray,  I  hasten  to  assure  them 
that,  though  I  have  been  suspected  of  having  some  opinions 
on  that  question,  I  am  sure  that  at  this  particular  time  the 
toast  I  have  in  charge  is  not  loaded,  and  that  there  will  be  no 
explosion. 

And  yet,  while  I  think  I  can  keep  the  peace  and  mention 
my  subject  without  any  warlike  sensation,  I  cannot  avoid 
feeling  the  weight  and  impediment  of  another  difficulty,  which 
is  calculated  to  appall  and  discourage  me.  This  is  the  vast- 
ness  of  my  subject.  It  embraces  the  toil  of  the  pioneer  in  the 
far  West,  the  most  delicate  operations  of  manufacture,  the 
most  pronounced  triumphs  of  art,  and  the  most  startling  re 
sults  of  inventive  genius. 

How  can  I  compass  these  things  within  the  limits  allotted  to 
me  on  this  occasion,  and  where  shall  I  begin,  as  I  stand 
before  this  assemblage  of  American  citizens  and  am  con 
fronted  with  the  ideas  which  "  Our  American  Industries  "  sug 
gests  ? 

I  can  do  little  more  than  to  speak  of  the  present  condition 
of  these  industries  as  indicating  the  greatest  and  swiftest 
national  growth  and  advancement  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
We  have  only  one  hundred  years  of  history  ;  but  in  all  that 
time  American  ingenuity  and  investigation  have  been  active 
and  restless.  We  have  begrudged  to  Nature  everything  she 
seeks  to  hide,  and  have  laid  in  wait  to  learn  the  secret  of  her 
processes.  We  have  not  believed  that  the  greatest  advance 
yet  reached  in  mechanical  skill  and  art  has  exhausted  Ameri 
can  invention,  and  when  other  nations  have  started  first  in 
any  field  of  progress,  we  have  resolutely  given  chase  and 
struggled  for  the  lead. 

We  now  invite  the  old  nations  of  Europe  to  see  our  steam 


160    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

plows  turning  furrows  in  wheatfields  as  large  as  some  of  their 
principalities.  We  astonish  -them  with  the  number  and  the 
length  of  our  railroads,  and  the  volume  and  speed  of  our 
transportation.  With  odds  against  us,  for  which  American 
skill  and  industry  are  in  no  wise  to  blame,  we  force  our  prod- 
ucts  and  manufactures  into  their  markets.  Our  Edison 
lighted  the  Eiffel  Tower,  and  by  his  display  of  the  wonders 
of  electricity  lent  success  to  the  American  exhibits  at  the 
Paris  Exposition. 

It  appears  that  some  of  our  industries  suit  the  people  of 
foreign  lands  so  well  that  they  desire  to  own  them  ;  and  daily 
we  hear  of  English  syndicates  purchasing  our  manufacturing 
establishments.  Our  people  seem  to  endure  this  raid  upon  them 
with  wonderful  complacency,  though  we  cannot  forget  that, 
less  than  two  years  ago,  they  were  very  solemnly  warned 
against  the  dangers  and  seductions  of  British  gold. 

I  hope  I  am  not  too  late  in  expressing  my  thanks  for  the 
privilege  of  meeting  on  this  occasion  an  assemblage  represent 
ing  one  of  our  industries  which,  so  far  as  I  know,  is  not  in 
fected  by  the  wholesale  influence  of  British  gold,  and  which 
embraces  only  such  manufactures  as  are  honestly  and  fairly 
American. 

This  means  a  great  deal  ;  and  I  do  not  envy  the  American 
citizen  who  has  no  pride  in  what  you  have  accomplished. 
Of  course,  we  do  not  forget  that  many  who  have  contributed 
to  our  glory  in  this  direction  bear  names  which  betray  their 
foreign  lineage.  But  we  claim  them  all  as  Americans  ;  and 

believe  that  you  will,  in  the  enthusiasm  and  vigor  of  true 
American  sentiment  and    independence,  stubbornly  hold  the 
place  which  has  been  won  by  you  and  others  of  your  guild 
under  the  banner  of  "A  fair  field  and  no  favor." 

I  have  within  the  last  few  days  received  as  a  gift— perhaps 
suggested  by  my  contemplated  presence  here— a  book  entitled 
"A  History  of  the  American  Pianoforte,"  which  I  shall  read 
with  much  interest. 

In  glancing  through  it   my  eye  fell  upon  a  passage   which 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    161 

arrested  my  attention,  as  furnishing  a  slight  set-off  against  the 
indebtedness  we  owe  to  those  of  foreign  birth  among  our 
piano  and  organ  manufacturers.  I  know  you  will  permit  me 
to  quote  it,  as  evidence  of  the  share  our  free  institutions  may 
claim  in  the  success  of  your  industry.  The  writer,  claiming 
priority  for  the  United  States  for  some  particular  things  done 
in  the  progress  of  piano  manufacturing  by  two  certain  makers, 
who,  though  manufacturing  in  this  country,  were,  as  he  says, 
44  originally  Britons,  one  English  and  the  other  evidently 
Scotch,"  clinches  the  argument  in  our  favor,  as  follows  : 

Notwithstanding  this  circumstance,  America  is  entitled  to  the  honor  of 
the  achievements  pointed  out,  because  it  is  a  well  demonstrated  fact, 
although,  perhaps,  a  subtlety,  that  the  social  and  governmental  institutions  of 
this  country,  in  so  far  as  they  promote  mental  freedom,  have  a  stimulating 
and  immediate  influence  upon  the  inventive  faculties  of  persons  brought  up 
in  Europe  and  settling  here. 

I  cannot  forbear,  in  conclusion,  a  reference  to  the  manner 
in  which  your  busy  manufactories  and  the  salesrooms  of  your 
wares  are  related  to  the  love  and  joy  and  hopes  and  sadness 
and  grief  and  the  worship  of  God  which  sanctify  the  American 
family  circle. 

In  many  a  humble  home  throughout  our  land,  the  piano 
has  gathered  about  it  the  most  sacred  and  tender  associations. 
For  it,  the  daughters  of  the  household  longed  by  day  and 
prayed  in  dreams  at  night.  For  it  fond  parents  saved  and 
economized  at  every  point  and  planned  in  loving  secrecy. 
For  it,  a  certain  Christmas  Day,  on  which  the  arrival  of  the 
piano  gave  a  glad  surprise,  was  marked  as  a  red-letter  day  in 
the  annals  of  the  household. 

With  its  music  and  with  simple  song  each  daughter  in  her 
turn  touched  with  love  the  heart  of  her  future  husband. 
With  it,  the  sacred  hymn  and  the  family  prayer  are  joined  in 
chastened  memory.  With  it,  closed  and  silent,  are  tenderly 
remembered  the  days  of  sickness,  the  time  of  death,  and  the 
funeral's  solemn  hush. 

When  the  family  circle  is  broken  and  its  members  are  scat- 


162    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

tercel,  happy  is  the  son  or  daughter  who  can  place  among  his 
or  her  household  goods  the  old  piano.      . 


VII. 

At  the  Chamber  of   Commerce   Banquet,  New  York,  November 

1 8,  1890. 
MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

This  volunteer  business  I  did  not  calculate  upon  and  I 
think  it  would  best  befit  me  now  only  to  thank  you  for  the 
kindness  which  you  have  extended  to  me.  I  do  not  believe  it 
would  be  fair  for  me  to  disturb  the  contentment  which  ought  to 
remain  to  you  after  the  delicious  dinner  which  you  haveeaten- 
and  I  know  that,  after  the  oratory  and  the  dinner  speeches  you 
have  heard,  it  would  ill  become  me  to  obtrude  any  random 
thoughts.  I  do  not  believe  that  when  people  are  under  the 
influence  of  sweet  music,  a  boy  around  the  edges  ought  to  be 
shooting  off  a  blunderbuss. 

I  shall  go  home  to-night  with  some  confused  ideas  in  my 
mind  ;  you  are  not  to  blame  for  them,  but  I  suppose  my  con- 
ition  and  circumstances  are  to  blame.  We  have  heard  about 
literature  and  business,  about  education  and  business  and 
about  foreign  commerce,  and  a  good  deal  about  reciprocity  • 
and  that  is  where  my  trouble  comes  in.  AVe  have  been  told  that 
it  would  be  a  grand  thing  to  have  reciprocity  with  Spanish-speak 
ing  people.  Now,  if  it  is  good  for  Spanish-speaking  people 
how  would  it  do  with  the  people  who  speak  our  own  language? 

We  have  heard  that  our  breadstuffs  go  across  the  water  and 
that  the  people  need  them  there.  That  means  a  market  for 
them,  doesn't  it  ?  I  had  an  idea  that  a  bird  in  the  hand  is 
worth  two  in  the  bush,  and  that,  perhaps,  if  you  had  a  mar- 
ket,  it  might  be  well  to  cultivate  it,  instead  of  trying  to  manu 
facture  another. 

We  have  heard  that  England  and  France  have  within  a  few 
days  rushed  to  our  rescue  in  a  financial  way,  prompted  thereto 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    163 

by  the  noble  sentiment  of  reciprocity.  If  they  are  so  willing 
and  glad  to  extend  to-us  the  hand  of  reciprocity  in  financial  mat 
ters,  how  would  it  do  to  give  them  a  chance  in  commercial  and 
other  matters  ? 

Now,  as  I  said,  these  difficulties  of  mine  are  entirely  attrib 
utable  to  my  own  neglected  education,  and  incidentally  and 
indirectly,  I  think  they  are  attributable  to  the  fact  that  I  am 
only  an  honorary  member  of  this  institution,  instead  of  being 
an  active  one.  This  being  the  case,  I  have  not  that  intimate 
familiarity  with  the  subject  which  would  probably  clear  up  my 
doubts. 

I  have  spoken  of  being  an  honorary  member  of  this  institu 
tion  ;  and  I  have  prized  that  distinction  very  highly,  indeed, 
but  never  more  so  than  to-night,  because  I  see  there  may  be 
at  some  time  a  possibility  of  my  attending  a  banquet  of  the 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  without  being  called  upon  for  a  speech; 
that  I  may  come  here  and  enjoy  the  good  things  which  you 
set  before  me,  without  that  gloomy  foreboding  which  an  undi 
gested  and  indigestible  speech  brings  over  a  man.  I  have 
almost  accomplished  it  to-night,  and  as  progress  is  the  order 
of  the  day,  I  have  no  doubt  but  that  it  will  be  finally  arranged 
to  my  liking. 

To-night  I  find  myself  facing  this  audience  under  circum 
stances  which  gave  me  no  intimation  that  I  was  to  make  a 
speech.  That  was  a  mercy  in  itself,  for  I  enjoyed  my  dinner 
before  the  collapse  came.  Therefore,  as  I  speak  of  my  asso 
ciation  with  this  Chamber  of  Commerce,  though  my  relations 
are  not  so  intimate  as  to  understand  all  questions  which  are, 
perhaps,  easy  to  you,  and  though  I  have  not  reached  that 
stage  when  I  can  confidently  come  here  without  being  called 
upon  to  make  a  speech,  I  am  glad  to  believe  that  the  promise 
is  favorable. 

I  am  very  strongly  tempted  to  say  something  in  answer  to 
some  remarks  which  my  friend  Depew  made,  but  everybody 
seems  to  have  pitched  on  to  him,  and  even  Mr.  Schurz,  who 
promised  to  stand  by  him,  did  not  do  so  at  all  ;  and  although 


1 64    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

he  is  well  able  to  stand  up  against  any  number  of  us,  I  do  not 
know  that  I  ought  to  make  any  reference  to  somethings  which 
he  has  said  ;  and  yet,  when  he  spoke  of  the  nomination  my 
friend  Springer  made,  I  could  not  help  but  think  that  per 
haps  Springer  had  learned  from  him  how  to  do  it.  Now,  it 
was  a  very  innocent  thing  that  my  friend  Springer  said,  'it 
amounted  to  nothing.  But  I  can  tell  you  a  circumstance 
which  involves  in  it  modesty,  accountability  to  the  people  of 
the  country,  and  ambition,  and,  when  I  have  done,  I  think  you 
will  agree  with  me,  that  perhaps  Mr.  Depew  was  more  to 
blame  before  the  eyes  of  the  people  than  Mr.  Springer  was. 

The  first  time  I  ever  saw  Mr.  Depew  in  a  public  place  was 
in  Albany.  I  was  then  Governor  of  the  State,  and  we  had. a 
banquet  in  commemoration  of  a  certain  military  company,  or 
something  of  that  kind,  and  I  was  invited  and  went.  I  was 
to  make  a  speech.  I  prepared  myself  most  elaborately,  and 
did  the  very  best  I  could.  Now,  mind  you,  at  that  time  I  was  a 
quiet,  unambitious  man,  quite  content  with  the  situation  I  oc 
cupied,  and  happy  with  the  delusion  that  I  was  doing  some 
thing  for  the  good  of  the  State.  Mr.  Depew  arose— I  shall  re 
peat  only  what  he  said— and  congratulated  those  present  that  at 
last  they  had  elected  a  Governor  who  could  do  that  most  diffi 
cult  of  all  things,  make  an  after-dinner  speech.  That  made 
me  very  happy  indeed.  He  spoke  of  some  other  traits, 
and  of  some  other  things  which  were  very  complimentary,  and 
he  then  said,  "  Gentlemen,  I  know  of  nothing  more  proper,  I 
know  of  nothing  more  in  keeping  with  the  services  of  this 
gentleman  than  that  the  party  with  which  he  is  affiliated 
should  nominate  him  in  the  coming  convention  for  the  highest 
office  in  the  gift  of  the  people." 

Now,  the  effect  of  that  on  a  young  man  can  be  easily  im 
agined,  if  not  described.  And  then  he  went  on  and  said : 
"  When  that  is  done,  the  party  with  which  I  am  proud  to  be 
affiliated,  I  hope,  will  nominate  as  his  competitor  that  noble 
citizen,  that  grand  man  and  statesman  whose  name  I  have  no 
doubt  rises  to  the  lips  of  every  man  here  present— though  it 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    165 

does  not  to  mine."  Well,  I  did  not  know  what  to  make  of 
that  then,  nor  why  he  did  not  mention  the  name  of  the  citizen 
and  statesman,  but  subsequent  events  have  made  me  rather 
suspicious  that  at  that  moment  our  friend  was  struck  with  a 
fit  of  extreme  modesty.  Doesn't  that  excuse  Mr.  Springer  ? 
I  think  so.  There  was  an  administration  of  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment  with  which  I  was  connected,  and  with  which  I  had 
something  to  do — at  all  events,  I  have  been  held  to  an  account 
ability  for  all  its  shortcomings— and  I  long  ago  made  up  my 
mind,  that  when  the  opportunity  came  that  I  could  do  it  with 
out  injuring  myself,  I  might,  perhaps,  have  something  to  say 
about  Mr.  Depew's  candidacy  for  the  Presidency.  Now,  see 
the  selfishness  of  this  thing.  See  the  mean  political  selfish 
ness  of  that  idea.  Not  so  with  Mr.  Depew.  Why,  within  four 
weeks,  I  think,  in  his  magnanimity,  and  in  his  generous  heart, 
though  at  a  festive  board,  where  we  are  all  apt  to  say  kind  and 
generous  things,  he  said  such  complimentary  things  of  me 
as  visited  upon  him,  I  am  informed,  the  condemnation  of 
members  of  his  party.  Indeed,  I  hear  that  one  enthusiastic 
adherent  of  his  from  the  West,  on  account  of  those  compli 
mentary  and  courteous  things,  which  he  said,  regardless  of 
.  Presidential  consequences,  while  I  was  waiting  for  an  oppor 
tunity  when  I  could  say  a  kind  thing  of  him,  without  hurting 
myself,  wrote  to  him  :  "  While  you  have  been  for  years  my 
ideal  of  a  man  that  has  Presidential  timber  in  him,  and  while  I 
have  been  strongly  your  advocate  for  that  office,  after  seeing 
what  you  said  of  that  miserable  fellow  Cleveland,  I  wouldn't 
vote  for  you  for  poundmaster." 

Now  this  carries  with  it  an  acknowledgment  of  the  kindness 
and  goodness  of  Mr.  Depew,  and  also  a  confession  of  my  own 
disposition,  for  I  confess  to  you  that  the  time  has  not  yet 
come  when  I  have  thought  I  could  safely,  and  without  harm 
to  myself,  launch  out  on  that  subject  in  regard  to  him  ;  but  I 
hope  the  time  will  come.  I  am  watching  for  it. 

Now,  gentlemen,  there  seems  nothing  left  to  me  but  to 
thank  you  again  for  your  hearty  recognition  of  me,  and  to  say 


1 66    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS, 

of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  that  I  sincerely  hope  that  it  may 
long  exist  in  the  prosperity  which  has  marked  it  for  so  many 
years,  and  that  these  banquets  may  constantly  increase  in 
pleasure  to  those  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  be  their  invited 
guests. 


VIII. 

At  the  Jewelers'  Association  Annual  Dinner,  New  York, 
November  21,  1890. 

MR.   PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

The  sentiment  assigned  to  me  suggests  a  theme  so  vast  and 
so  animating  that  I  am  embarrassed  in  my  attempt  to  deal 
with  it.  You  surely  will  not  expect  me  on  this  occasion  to 
voice  all  the  thoughts  and  feelings  which  the  mention  of  "  Our 
Country  "  inspires.  If  I  should  do  this,  I  should  merely  tax 
your  time  and  patience  by  the  expression  of  reflections  which 
spontaneously  fill  your  minds.  Besides,  if  I  should  launch 
upon  this  subject  in  true  American  style,  I  know  I  could  not 
avoid  the  guilt  of  making  a  Fourth  of  July  speech  late  in  the 
month  of  November. 

I  hasten  to  declare  that  I  do  not  fight  shy  of  my  subject 
because  1  do  not  love  it.  On  the  contrary,  I  love  it  so  well 
that  I  am  anxious  to  observe  all  the  proprieties  related  to  it  • 
and  I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  idea  that  our  American  eagle 
soars  higher  and  better  in  the  warm  days  of  July  than  in  the 
cool  atmosphere  of  the  present  season. 

And  yet,  I  am  far  from  believing  that  at  any  time  and  in  any 
assemblage  of  Americans  the  sentiment  "  Our  Country  "  is  not 
a  proper  one  to  propose  ;  though  I  have  sometimes  thought 
that  it  speaks  so  eloquently  for  itself  that  it  needs  no  inter 
preter.  There  seems  absolutely  to  be  no  necessity  for  arousing 
enthusiasm  on  this  topic,  and  there  is  not  the  slightest  danger 
that  any  of  us  will  forget  what  we  have  accomplished  as  a 
nation  or  what  we  propose  to  accomplish,  or  that  we  will  fix 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    167 

too  narrow  a  limit  upon  the  progress,  development,  and  great-  ^ 
ness  of  our  country.     Sometimes  those  who,  unfortunately, 
cannot  claim  this  as  their  country  accuse  us  of  dwelling  with 
some  exaggeration  upon  these  things,  but  every  American  is 
entirely  certain  that  such  imputations  arise  from  ignorance  of 
our  achievements  or  from  envy  and  disappointed  rivalry.     At 
any  rate,  it  is  a  habit  to  glorify  our  country,  and  we  propose 
to  continue  it.     We  all  do  it  without  prompting,  and  we  like 
it.     We  can  stand  any  amount  of  it  without  disturbance,  and 
whether  others  like  it  or  not,  we  know,  and  we  propose  to  de 
clare   on   every  occasion,  that  America  is  the  finest  and  ^the 
best  and  the  greatest  country  on  the  face  of  the  globe.     That 
proposition  is  not  original  with  me,  but  has  been  a  settled  fact 
in  the  American  mind  for  many  years. 

Though  this  might  be  said  to  dispose  of  the  subject  by  a 
short  cut,  and  though  I  have  declined  to  deal  with  it  in  all  its 
aspects,  the  American  disposition  to  glorify  our  country  is 
strong  with  me  ;  and  I  am  disinclined  to  abandon  my  allotted 
sentiment  in  a  manner  quite  so  summary.  If  I  am  to  retain 
it  for  a  few  moments,  I  know  of  no  better  way  to  deal  with  it 
than  to  divide  it  and  consider  one  branch  or  part  of  my  text, 
as  is  sometimes  done  with  a  long  text  in  the  pulpit,  ^there 
fore,  propose  to  say  something  about  the  word  "  our  "  as  re 
lated  to  the  sentiment,  "Our  Country." 

This  is  "  our  "  country,  because  the  people  have  established 
it,  because  they  rule  it,  because  they  have  developed  it,  be 
cause  they  have  fought  for  it,  and  because  they  love  it.  And 
still  each  generation  of  Americans  holds  it  only  in  trust  for 
those  who  shall  come  after  them,  and  they  are  charged  with 
the  obligation  to  transmit  it  as  strong  as  it  came  to  their  hands. 
It  is  not  ours  to  destroy,  it  is  not  ours  to  sell,  and  it  is  not 
ours  to  neglect  and  injure.  It  is  ours  as  our  families  are  ours, 
and  as  our  churches  and  schools  are  ours— to  protect  and  de 
fend,  to  foster  and  improve.  As  its  strength  and  its  fitness  to 
reach  its  promised  destiny  depend  upon  its  unity,  one  of  our 
highest  duties  toward  it  is  to  cultivate  and  encourage  kindh- 


1 68    7V  COMMERCIAL  AMD  £USffiTESS  A SSOCIA  7^1  ON S. 

ness  among  our  people,  to  the  end  that  all  may  heartily  co 
operate  in  performing  the  terms  of  our  trust.  As  it  exists  for 
us  all,  so  all  should  be  accorded  an  equal  share  in  its  benefits. 
It  is  so  constructed  that  its  work  is  badly  done  and  its  opera 
tion  perverted,  when  special  and  exclusive  advantages  are 
awarded  to  any  particular  class  of  our  people.  If  we  permit 
grasping  selfishness  to  influence  us  in  the  care  of  our  trust, 
we  are  untrue  to  our  obligations  and  our  covenants  as 
Americans. 

Our  country  is  "  ours  "  for  the  purpose  of  securing  through 
its  means  justice,  happiness,  and  prosperity  to  all — not  for  the 
purpose  of  permitting  the  selfish  and  designing  to  be  enriched 
at  the  expense  of  their  confiding  fellow-countrymen.  It  is  our 
duty,  then,  to  defend  and  protect  our  country,  while  it  remains 
in  our  hands,  from  that  selfishness  which,  if  permitted,  will 
surely  undermine  it,  as  clearly  as  it  is  our  duty  to  defend  it 
against  armed  enemies. 

Nor  are  we  discharged  from  our  obligations  as  trustees  of 
our  country  if  we  merely  preserve  it  in  the  same  condition  as 
when  we  received  it.  The  march  of  progress  and  civilization 
throughout  the  world  imposes  on  us  the  duty  of  improving  the 
subject  of  our  trust  so  that  it  may  be  transmitted  to  others  in 
such  an  advanced  condition  of  prosperity  and  growth  as  shall 
bear  witness  to  our  faithfulness  and  our  devotion  to  its  interests. 
He  who  hid  his  talent  in  a  napkin  and  added  nothing  to  it  was 
condemned  as  unfaithful,  when  called  upon  to  give  an  account 
of  his  stewardship. 

Let  us,  then,  rejoice  in  the  greatness  of  "  Our  Country"; 
but  let  us  remember  that  it  will  be  our  blame  if  it  is  not  made 
greater  ;  let  us  boast  of  the  country  which  is  ours,  but  let  our 
boasting  be  tempered  with  the  reflection  that  its  possession  is 
charged  with  a  sacred  trust  ;  let  us  constantly  bear  in  mind 
that  while  it  is  ours  to  use  patriotically  and  transmit  to  coming 
generations,  our  relation  to  it  is  made  more  serious  by  the 
fact  that,  in  its  broadest  and  most  solemn  meaning,  our  country 
is  something  which,  as  an  example  and  interpreter  of  freedom, 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    169 

belongs  to  the   world,  and  which,  in  its  blessed  mission,  be 
longs  to  humanity. 


IX. 

At  the  Banquet  of  the  National  Association  of  Builders, 
New  York,  February  12,  1891. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

When  American  citizens  are  gathered  together  on  occasions 
like  this,  and  the  hour  of  feasting  is  supplemented  by  toast 
and  sentiment,  it  is  surely  fitting  that  "Our  Country"  should 
be  prominent  among  the  topics  proposed  for  thought  and 
speech.  Evidence  is  thus  furnished  of  the  ever  present  love 
and  affection  of  our  people  for  their  country,  prompting  them, 
at  all  times  and  in  all  places,  to  yield  to  her  ready  recognition 
and  homage. 

The  conspicuous  place  which  this  sentiment  occupies  in 
American  thought  is  the  result  of  our  relations  to  the  land 
which  we  possess  and  to  the  government  under  which  we  live. 
Our  vast  domain  belongs  to  our  people.  They  have  fought 
for  it,  and  have  labored  hard  for  its  development  and  growth. 
Our  government,  too,  was  fashioned  and  established  by  and 
for  our  people,  and  is  sustained  and  administered  at  their  be 
hest.  Subjects  of  other  lands,  less  free  than  ours,  and  those 
who  owe  obedience  to  governments  further  removed  from 
popular  control,  may  boast  of  their  country,  in  a  spirit  of  natu 
ral  pride  and  patriotism  and  as  sharers  in  its  splendor  and 
glory.  They  thus  exhibit  their  submission  and  allegiance  and 
a  habitual  regard  for  constituted  authority.  But  the  enthusi 
asm  which  warms  our  hearts  at  the  mention  of  "  Our  Country" 
grows  out  of  our  sense  of  proprietary  and  individual  right  in 
American  institutions.  It  is  mingled  with  no  servile  gratitude 
to  any  ruler  for  scant  freedom  generously  conceded  to  us,  nor 
with  admiration  of  monarchical  pomp  and  splendor.  The 
words,  "Our  Country,"  suggest  to  us  not  only  a  broad  domain 


17°    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

which  is  ours,  but  also  a  government  which  is  ours,  based  upon 
our  will,  protected  and  guarded  by  our  love  and  affection, 
vouchsafing  to  us  freedom  limited  only  by  our  self-imposed 
restraints,  and  securing  to  us,  as  our  right,  absolute  and  impar 
tial  justice. 

When  we  consider  the  extensive  growth  of  our  country 

its  cities  and  villages,  and  all  the  physical  features  which  con 
tribute  so  much  to  give  to  it  a  foremost  place  in  the  civiliza 
tion  of  the  age— we  are  bound  to  acknowledge  that  the  build 
ers  of  our  land  have  had  much  to  do  with  securing  for  us  the 
commanding  position  we  hold  among  the  nations  of  the  earth. 
It  may,  indeed,  be  said  that  all  the  nations  which  have  ever  ex 
isted,  have,  like  us,  been  largely  indebted,  for  the  grandeur 
and  magnificence  of  which  they  could  boast,  to  those  belong 
ing  to  the  vocation  represented  in  this  assembly.  It  will  be 
impossible  to  find  a  complete  description  of  any  country, 
ancient  or  modern,  which  does  not  mention  the  size  and  char 
acter  of  its  buildings,  and  its  public  and  private  edifices. 

I  do  not  intend  to  do  injustice,  in  the  enthusiasm  of  this 
hour,  to  any  of  the  trades  and  occupations  which  have  con 
tributed  to  make  our  country  and  other  countries  great.  But 
truth  and  candor  exact  the  confession  that  the  chief  among 
these  occupations  in  all  times  past  has  been  that  of  the  builder. 
He  began  his  work  in  the  early  days  of  created  things,  and 
has  been  abroad  among  the  sons  of  men  ever  since.  The 
builder's  advent  was  signalized  by  a  service  to  mankind  of 
which  not  another  craft  can  boast.  No  one  has  the  hardihood 
to  deny  that  the  construction  of  the  ark  was  the  turning-point 
in  the  scheme  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  human  race.  The 
builder's  work  in  that  emergency  saved  mankind  from  a 
watery  grave  ;  and  if  we  suffer  at  the  hands  of  his  successors 
in  these  modern  times,  we  should  allow  his  first  job  to  plead 
loudly  in  his  behalf.  If  in  these  days  we  are  vexed  by  the 
failure  of  the  builder  to  observe  plans  and  specifications,  let  us 
bear  in  mind  that  in  his  first  construction  he,  fortunately  for 
us,  followed  them  implicitly.  The  gopher  wood  was  furnished, 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    I?1 

the  ark  was  pitched  within  and  without,  it  was  built  three  hun 
dred  cubits  long,  fifty  cubits  broad,  and  thirty  cubits  high  ; 
the  window  was  put  in,  the  door  was  placed  in  the  side,  and  it 
had  a  lower,  second,  and  third  story.  If  we  are  now  and  then 
prompted  almost  to  profanity,  because  the  builder  has  not 
completed  our  house  within  the  time  agreed,  let  us  recall  with 
gratitude  the  fact  that  the  ark  was  fully  completed  and  fin 
ished  in  a  good  and  workmanlike  manner  and  actually  occu 
pied,  seven  days  before  the  waters  of  the  flood  were  upon  the 
earth.  If  a  feeling  like  paralysis  steals  over  us  when  a  long 
account  for  extra  work  is  placed  before  our  affrighted  eyes,  let 
us  be  reconciled  to  our  fate  by  the  thought  that  there  was  no 
charge  for  extra  work  in  the  construction  of  the  ark,  and  that 
the  human  race  was  saved  without  that  exasperating  incident. 
We  sometimes  hear  things  which  are  calculated  to  convey 
the  impression  that  there  is  an  irrepressible  conflict  raging 
between  our  builders  and  the  rest  of  our  people.  If  any  such 
thing  exists,  I  desire  to  suggest,  in  behalf  of  the  builders,  that 
it  may  to  a  great  extent  arise  from  the  uncertainty  prevailing 
among  employers  concerning  their  wants  and  what  they  can 
afford  to  have.  These  are  days  when  the  free-born  and  am 
bitious  American  citizen  does  not  like  to  be  outdone  by  his 
neighbor  or  anyone  else.  If,  as  a  result  of  this,  a  man  with 
fifty  thousand  dollars  to  spend  for  a  home,  is  determined  to 
have  one  as  good  and  as  extravagant  as  that  of  another  man, 
who  has  twice  the  amount  to  invest  for  the  same  purpose,  the 
builder  certainly  ought  not  to  be  blamed  if  he  fails  to  perform 
that  miracle.  On  the  other  hand,  it  has  sometimes  seemed  to 
me  that  when  an  honest,  confiding  man  applies  to  a  builder 
for  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of  a  construction  which  he  contem 
plates,  he  ought  to  receive  more  definite  and  trustworthy  fig 
ures  than  those  frequently  submitted  to  him.  lam  inclined  to 
think,  however,that  on  the  whole  the  relations  of  the  builder  with 
his  fellow-men  have  been  fairly  amicable.  If  this  were  not  so, 
and  if  disputes  and  misunderstandings  were  ordinary  incidents 
of  building  contracts,  it  is  quite  apparent  that  the  buildings 


I72    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

which  have  been  put  up  in  our  country  would  have  caused 
enough  of  quarrels  not  only  to  endanger  our  social  fabric,  but 
to  transfer  much  of  the  wealth  now  in  the  hands  of  the  build 
ers  and  their  patrons  to  the   pockets  of  the  members  of  that 
peaceful  and  honest  profession  to  which  I  have  the   honor  to 
belong.     This  latter  result  would  not  be  altogether  mournful; 
the  legal  profession  are  so  patriotic,  and  so  easily  satisfied,  that 
I  am  quite  certain  they  are  contented  with  existing  conditions. 
The  National  Association  of  Builders  gives  promise  in   its 
declared  objects  and  purposes  of  much  usefulness.     It  recog 
nizes  the   fact  that    the    relation   its  members  bear  to  vast 
numbers   of  our  wage-earners   furnishes  the   opportunity  for 
them  to  do  an  important  and  beneficent   work  in   the  way  of 
reconciling  differences  between  employers  and  employees  and 
averting   unprofitable   and  exasperating  conflicts.     All    must 
commend  the  desire  of   the  organization   for  the  adoption   of 
effective  precautions  against  accident  and  injury  to  employees, 
and  for  some  provision  for  such   as  are  injured  or   incapaci 
tated  for  work.     And  all  our  people  ought  especially  to  appre 
ciate  the  efforts  of  your  association  to  aid  in  the  establishment 
of  trade  schools  for  the  education  and  improvement  of  appren 
tices.     Of  course,  no  one  will  deny  that  a   workman   in  your 
vocation,  who  labors  intelligently  and  with  some  knowledge  of 
the  underlying  reason  for  his   plan  of  work,  does   more   and 
better  service  than  one  who   pursues  his   round  of  daily   toil, 
unthinkingly,  and  as  a  mere  matter  of  routine   or  imitation. 
Herein  is  certainly  a  palpable  advantage  to  the  workman,  to 
the  builder,  and  to  his  patron.     But  the  value  of  a  trade  school 
education    is    not    thus    limited.     The  apprentice   not   only 
becomes  a  better  workman  by  means  of  the  education  and 
discipline  of  such   a   school,  but   that  very  process  must  also 
tend  to  make  him  a  better  citizen.     While  he  learns  the  things 
which  give  him  an  understanding  of  his  work  and  fit  his  mind 
and  brain  to  guide  his  hand,  he  also  stimulates  his  perception 
of  that  high   service  which   his  country  claims  of  him  as  a 
citizen. 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    i?3 

For  this  service  he  and  all  of  us  have  placed  in  our  hands 
the  suffrage  of  freemen.  It  is  only  faithfully  used  when  its 
exercise  represents  a  full  consciousness  of  the  responsibilities 
and  duties  which  its  possession  imposes,  and  when  it  is  guided 
and  controlled  by  a  pure  conscience  and  by  thoughtful,  intel 
ligent,  and  independent  judgment. 

"  Neither  walls,  theaters,  porches,  nor  senseless  equipage, 
make  states  ;  but  men  who  are  able  to  rely  upon  themselves." 

As  a  concluding  thought,  let  me  suggest,  that  though  the 
builders  of  the  United  States  may  erect  grand  and  beautiful 
edifices  which  shall  be  monuments  of  their  skill  and  evidences 
of  our  nation's  prosperity,  their  work  is  not  well  done  nor 
their  duty  wholly  performed  unless,  in  pursuance  of  their  con 
tract  of  citizenship,  they  join  with  all  their  fellow-countrymen 
in  building  and  finishing  in  beautiful  proportions,  the  grand 
est  and  most  commanding  of  all  earthly  structures — "Our 
Country." 


X. 

Before    the    Commercial    Club,   Providence,    JR.    /., 
June  27,    1891. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  suppose  from  the  name  of  the  organization  which  extends 
to  us  the  hospitalities  of  this  occasion,  that  its  membership  is 
mainly,  at  least,  made  up  of  those  engaged  in  business  enter 
prises,  and  that  its  object  is  the  discussion  of  topics  related  to 
the  progress  and  development  of  such  enterprises. 

I  never  attend  a  gathering  of  business  men,  and  recall  the 
restless  activity  which  they  represent,  and  the  strain  of  brain 
which  they  willingly  bear  for  the  sake  of  profit  and  success, 
without  wondering  that  they  are  content  to  be  so  thoroughly 
engrossed  in  the  immediate  details  of  their  occupations,  as 
often  to  lead  to  an  habitual  neglect  of  those  affairs,  which 
though  outside  of  their  counting  houses,  exchanges  and  man- 


174    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

ufactories,  have  an  intimate  relation  to  their  prosperity.  No 
one  can  be  oblivious  to  the  fact  that  matters  of  legislation, 
and  the  course  of  governmental  policy,  are  so  important  to  the 
business  in  which  we  engage  that  our  individual  efforts  in  its 
prosecution  may  be  easily  promoted  or  thwarted  by  the  con 
duct  of  those  who  make  and  execute  our  laws.  Yet,  in  busi 
ness  circles  we  find  but  few  men  who  are  willing  to  forego 
their  ordinary  work  to  engage  in  the  business  of  legislation. 
Indeed  this  unfortunate  condition  has  reached  such  a  pass  that 
our  business  men  think  and  often  speak  of  politics  as  some 
thing  quite  outside  of  their  interest  and  duty,  which,  if  not 
actually  disreputable,  may  well  be  left  to  those  who  have  a 
taste  for  it. 

I  am  by  no  means  unmindful  of  the  spasmodic  interference 
of  business  interests  in  politics,  spurred  on  by  a  selfish  desire 
to  be  aided,  especially  and  exclusively  through  legislative 
action.  Such  interference,  based  upon  such  motives,  is  more 
blameworthy  than  inactivity,  because  it  amounts  to  an  attempt 
to  pervert  governmental  functions — which  is  worse  than  a 
neglect  of  political  responsibility.  But  I  speak  of  a  heedless- 
ness  of  the  duty  resting  upon  every  one  of  us  as  American  citi 
zens,  to  participate  thoughtfully  and  intelligently  in  the  gen 
eral  conduct  of  the  government  which  is  ours,  and  which  has 
been  left  to  our  management. 

I  seek  to  remind  you  of  the  interest  which  you  and  all  of  us 
have  as  members  of  our  American  body  politic,  in  wholesome 
general  laws  and  honest  administration.  This  interest  is  rep 
resented  by  the  share  to  which  each  of  us  is  entitled,  in  the 
aggregate  of  advantage  which  such  laws  and  such  administra 
tion  secure.  This  interest  and  this  duty  are  surely  worth  all 
the  attention  we  can  bestow  upon  them ;  and  the  penalty  of 
their  neglect  we  shall  surely  not  escape.  In  order  that  the 
patriotism  and  intelligence  of  the  country  shall  prevail  in  our 
legislation,  the  patriotic  and  intelligent  men  of  the  country 
must  see  to  it  that  they  are  properly  represented  in  our 
national  councils.  If  they  fail  in  this  they  will  be  governed 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    175 

by  those  who  simply  make  a  trade  of  politics.  If  it  is  well 
that  our  legislation  be  influenced  by  the  enlightened  and  prac 
tical  business  sense  of  the  people,  our  business  men  must  see 
to  it  that  those  they  trust  are  chosen  as  their  lawmakers.  If 
they  are  indifferent  on  the  subject,  the  vast  interests  which  so 
greatly  concern  them  and  all  their  fellow-citizens  will  be  left 
at  the  mercy  of  those  who  neither  understand  them  nor  care 
for  them  ;  and  I  do  not  believe  these  dangers  will  be  effectively 
averted  until  they  are  better  understood  by  the  people  and 
more  thoroughly  resisted. 

It  seems  to  me  that  private  and  special  legislation,  as  it  at 
present  prevails,  is  an  evil  chargeable  to  a  great  extent  to  the 
listlessness  and  carelessness  of  the  people. 

There  is  a  kind  of  legislation  which,  upon  its  face  and  con- 
cededly,  is  private  and  special,  and  which  engrosses  far  too 
much  of  the  time  and  attention  of  our  lawmakers.  The  peo 
ple  have  a  right  to  claim  from  their  representatives  their  best 
care  and  attention  to  the  great  subjects  of  legislation  in  which 
the  entire  country  is  interested.  This  is  denied  them  if  their 
representatives  take  their  sea'ts  burdened  with  private  bills,  in 
which  their  immediate  neighbors  are  exclusively  interested, 
and  which  they  feel  they  must  be  diligent  in  advancing,  if  they 
would  secure  their  continuance  in  public  life.  They  are  thus 
led  by  the  exigencies  of  their  situation  as  they  view  it,  not  only 
to  the  support  of  private  bills  of  questionable  propriety,  but  to 
the  neglect  of  a  study  and  understanding  of  the  important 
questions  involved  in  general  legislation.  Nor  does  the  per 
nicious  effect  of  such  special  and  private  legislation  stop  here. 
The  importance  of  a  successful  championship  of  these  private 
bills,  measured  by  a  standard  which  ought  not  for  a  moment 
to  be  recognized,  seems  so  vital  to  those  having  them  in  charge 
that  they  are  easily  led  to  barter  their  votes  for  measures 
as  bad  as  theirs  or  worse,  in  order  to  secure  the  support  of 
similarly  situated  colleagues.  Thus  is  inaugurated  a  system^ 
called  log-rolling,  which  comes  frightfully  near  actual  legisla 
tive  corruption  ;  and  thus  the  people  at  large  lose  not  only 


l?6    TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS. 

the  attention  to  their  affairs  which  is  clue  to  them,  hut  are 
often  no  better  than  robbed  of  the  money  in  the  public 
treasury. 

I  have  hardly  done  more  than  to  present  a  very  general  out 
line  of  some  of  the  palpably  bad  accompaniments  of  legisla 
tion,  confessedly  special  and  private.  The  details  might  easily 
be  filled  in,  which  would  furnish  proof  of  the  elements  of  its 
mischievous  character  which  I  have  pointed  out. 

I  have  not,  however,  mentioned  the  aspect  of  special  and 
private  legislation  which  seems  to  me  most  pernicious.  I  refer 
to  the  habit  which  it  engenders  among  our  people  of  looking 
to  the  government  for  aid  in  the  accomplishment  of  special  and 
individual  schemes,  and  the  expectation  which  it  creates  and 
fosters,  that  legislation  may  be  invoked  for  the  securing  of  in 
dividual  advantages  and  unearned  benefits. 

The  relations  of  our  countrymen  toward  their  government 
should  be  founded  upon  their  love  for  it  as  the  fountainhead 
of  their  national  life  ;  their  faith  in  it  as  the  power  which  pre 
serves  them  a  free  people  ;  their  reverence  for  it  as  the  perfect 
work  of  the  highest  patriotism  ;  their  confidence  in  its  justice 
and  equality,  and  their  pride  in  its  ownership  and  management. 
These  should  furnish  at  all  times  sufficient  motive  for  a  lively 
interest  in  public  affairs,  and  should  supply  abundant  incen 
tive  to  popular  watchfulness  of  legislative  and  executive 
methods.  In  the  light  of  these  considerations,  no  thoughtful 
American  can  shut  his  eyes  to  the  truth,  that  when  our  people 
regard  their  government  as  the  source  of  individual  benefit  and 
favoritism,  and  when  their  interest  in  it  is  measured  by  the  ex 
tent  to  which  they  hope  to  realize  such  benefit  and  favoritism, 
our  popular  government  is  in  dangerous  hands  and  its  entire 
perversion  is  alarmingly  imminent. 

These  perils  are  not  alone  chargeable  to  legislation  which  is 

confessedly  special  and  private.     Measures  of  a  general  char- 

,acter,  and  apparently  proposed  for  the  public  good,  frequently 

originate  in  selfish  calculations,  or  so   completely  subserve  in 

their  details  selfish  plans,  that  they  also  tend  toward  the  fatal 


TO  COMMERCIAL  AND  BUSINESS  ASSOCIATIONS.    i?7 

point  of  sordidness  among  the  people  and  unjust  paternalism 
in  the  government.  No  matter  what  plausible  pretexts  may  be 
advanced  for  such  legislation,  if  it  has  in  it  these  elements,  it 
ought  to  be  condemned.  Neither  the  cry  of  protection  to 
American  interests,  nor  pretended  solicitude  for  the  public 
good,  ought  to  succeed  in  concealing  schemes  to  favor  the  few 
at  the  expense  of  the  many  ;  nor  should  the  importance  to  the 
country  of  legislative  action  upon  any  subject  divert  us  from 
inquiry  concerning  the  selfish  motives  and  purposes  which  may 
be  hidden  behind  the  proposal  of  such  legislation. 

It  is  quite  time^that  our  business  men,  and  all  American  citi 
zens  who  love  their  country,  bestir  themselves  for  battle 
against  the  evil  tendencies  of  private  and  special  legislation, 
whatever  guise  it  may  assume.  At  this  time  no  more  impor 
tant  truth  can  be  presented  to  the  people  than  that  they  should 
support  their  government  in  love  and  patriotism,  and  remain 
unselfishly  content  with  the  blessings  and  advantages  which 
our  free  institutions  were  established  to  bestow,  with  justice 
and  equality,  upon  every  citizen  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  our  land. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

TO    RELIGIOUS    AND    CHARITABLE    ORGANIZATIONS. 
I. 

At  the  Laying  of  the  Corner  Stone  of  the  "  Fitch 
Institute"  Buffalo,  May   10,    1882. 

MR.  FITCH: 

IT  falls  to  my  lot  on  this  occasion  to  extend  to  you,  on 
behalf  of  the  city  of  Buffalo,  a  hearty  greeting  and  a  cordial 
welcome.  I  am  to  attempt  to  express  to  you  the  sentiments 
of  gratitude  and  appreciation  which  our  citizens  cherish  toward 
you,  their  former  fellow-citizen. 

I  am  sure  I  shall  do  no  act  during  my  official  career,  as 
Chief  Executive  of  our  beautiful  and  prosperous  city,  which 
more  accords  with  my  own  feelings,  or  which  will  afford  me  so 
much  pleasure.  You,  sir,  have  known  and  watched  the 
growth  and  progress  of  our  city  since  its  day  of  small  things; 
and  in  the  full  strength  of  your  earlier  years  you  were  identi 
fied  with  its  important  and  successful  enterprises.  The  way 
of  the  world,  too,  often  is  to  forget  and  neglect  the  scene  of  a 
successful  struggle  with  life;  and  those  who  amass  wealth  are 
too  apt  to  enjoy  the  fruit,  unmindful  of  the  soil  whereon  it 
grew. 

We  joyfully  and  gratefully  acknowledge  to-day  that  human 
nature  has  a  different  phase.  You  left  the  activities  of  our 
city's  business  life,  years  ago,  laden  with  the  prizes  earned  and 
gathered  by  untiring  industry,  prudent  management,  and  hon 
orable  dealing.  But  the  occasion  which  we  celebrate  assures 
us  that  your  heart  has  still  been  with  us,  and  that,  in  the  day 
of  independent  affluence,  you  have  not  been  unmindful  of  the 

178 


CH A  AY  TABLE  ORGANIZA  TIONS.  1 7  9 

city  where  you  conquered  success.  You  return  to  us  to-day 
bearing  gifts  to  our  people  which  will  make  them  happier  and 
better. 

The  extent  and  value  of  your  princely  munificence  certainly 
call  for  the  warmest  gratitude  on  the  part  of  all  of  us,  inas 
much  as  it  adds  so  greatly  to  the  beauty,  advancement,  and 
substantial  prosperity  of  the  city.  But  the  object  and  purpose 
of  your  noble  charity  touch  our  hearts  more  deeply,  and 
awaken  our  love  and  affection. 

You  have  given  a  fortune  away,  and  have  directed  that  it 
"  be  applied  to  the  physical,  moral,  and  intellectual  benefit  of 
the  worthy  poor  of  Buffalo  without  distinction  of  creed  or 
sex."  This  comprises  all  the  elements  of  the  most  Christian 
and  disinterested  benevolence. 

The  poor  are  to  be  relieved.  And  not  only  their  physical, 
but  their  moral  and  intellectual  wants  are  to  be  provided  for. 
And  all  this  is  to  be  done  for  the  worthy  poor,  because  they  are 
poor  and  worthy,  and  not  because  they  profess  any  creed,  or 
religious  belief.  A  common  humanity  is  the  only  necessary 
credential.  This  opens  your  charity  to  the  family  of  man,  and' 
stamps  upon  it  the  seal  of  genuine  and  pure  philanthropy. 

You  have  not  built  for  yourself  a  monument  of  brass,  but 
have  secured  for  yourself  in  the  grateful  hearts  of  thousands 
living,  and  those  yet  unborn,  a  more  enduring  monument  than 
brass  or  marble.  We  feel  that  your  greatest  compensation 
to-day  consists  in  your  self-approval  of  a  noble  work  well 
done,  and  that  our  words  of  thanks  are  cold  and  cheerless. 
And  yet,  on  behalf  of  our  citizens,  and  on  behalf  of  the  worthy 
poor  of  Buffalo,  we  thank  you  for  all  you  have  done  for  us. 

You  witness  on  this  occasion  the  beginning  of  the  building 
which  is  to  perpetuate  your  goodness.  We  pray  Heaven  that 
you  may  live  long  to  witness  its  completion  and  continued  use 
fulness.  And  may  your  declining  years  be  sustained  and 
soothed  by  the  sweet  solace  of  an  approving  conscience,  and 
the  benisons  of  thousands  of  the  poor  people  who  shall  rise 
up  and  call  you  blessed. 


1  So  TO  RELIC  10  US  A  .\ ~D 

I  have  been  directed  by  the  Common  Council  to  present  to 
you  resolutions  expressing  their  sentiments  toward  you,  and 
extending  to  you  the  freedom  of  the  city. 


II. 

Message  to  the  Buffalo   Common  Council,  fitne  5,  1882. 

My  attention  has  been  called,  by  a  committee  from  the  Soci 
ety  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children,  to  the  number 
of  small  boys  and  girls  found  upon  our  streets  at  late  hours  in 
the  night. 

I  have  reason  to  believe  that  many  of  these  children  are 
allowed,  and  some  are  obliged,  by  their  parents,  thus  to  remain 
in  the  streets  for  the  ostensible  purpose  of  earning  money  by 
selling  newspapers  or  blacking  boots.  In  truth,  however,  after 
a  certain  hour  in  the  evening,  the  most,  if  not  all  the  money 
they  receive,  they  obtain  by  begging  or  by  false  pretenses.  In 
the  meantime  they  are  subjected  to  the  worst  influences,  lead 
ing  directly  to  profligacy,  vagrancy,  and  crime. 

The  importance  of  caring  for  children  who  are  uncared  for 
by  their  natural  guardians,  or  who  are  unmindful  of  parental 
restraint,  must  be  apparent  to  all.  In  the  future,  for  good  or 
evil,  their  influence  will  be  felt  in  the  community;  and  cer 
tainly  the  attempt  to  prevent  their  swelling  the  criminal  class 
is  worth  an  effort. 

It  seems  to  me  that  no  pretext  should  be'permitted  to  excuse 
allowing  young  girls  to  be  on  the  streets  at  improper  hours, 
since  the  result  must  necessarily  be  their  destruction. 

The  disposition  of  the  boy— child  though  he  be— to  aid  in  his 
own  support  or  that  of  others,  in  an  honest,  decent  way,  ought 
not  to  be  discouraged.  But  this  does  not  call  for  his  being  in 
the  street  at  late  hours,  to  his  infinite  damage  morally,  mentally, 
and  physically,  and  to  the  danger  of  society. 

I  respectfully  suggest  that  this  subject  be  referred  to  the 
committee  on  ordinances  and  the  attorney,  and  that  a  commit- 


CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS.  181 

tee  from  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children 
be  invited  to  co-operate  with  them  in  an  effort  to  frame  an 
ordinance  which  will  remedy  the  evil  herein  considered. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND,  Mayor. 


III. 

At  the  Laying  of  the  Corner  Stone  of  the    Y.  M.   C.  A. 
Building  in  Buffalo,  September  7,   1882. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

I  desire  to  express  the  sincere  pleasure  and  gratification  I 
experience  in  joining  with  you  in  the  exercises  of  this  after 
noon.  An  event  is  here  marked  which  I  deem  a  most  impor 
tant  one,  and  one  well  worthy  of  the  attention  of  all  good  citi 
zens.  We,  this  day,  bring  into  a  prominent  place  an  institution 
which,  it  seems  to  me,  cannot  fail  to  impress  itself  upon  our 
future  with  the  best  results. 

Perhaps  a  majority  of  our  citizens  have  heard  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association;  and  perchance  the  name  has 
suggested,  in  an  indefinite  way,  certain  efforts  to  do  good  and 
to  aid  generally  in  the  spread  of  religious  teaching.  I  venture 
to  say,  however,  that  a  comparatively  small  part  of  our  com 
munity  has  really  known  the  full  extent  of  the  work  of  this 
Association ;  and  many  have  thought  of  it  as  an  institution  well 
enough  in  its  way — a  proper  enough  outlet  for  a  superabun 
dance  of  religious  enthusiasm — doing,  of  course,  no  harm,  and 
perhaps  very  little  good.  Some  have  aided  it  by  their  contri 
butions  from  a  sense  of  Christian  duty,  but  more  have  passed 
by  on  the  other  side. 

We  have  been  too  much  in  the  habit  of  regarding  institu 
tions  of  this  kind  as  entirely  disconnected  from  any  considera 
tions  of  municipal  growth  or  prosperity,  and  have  too  often 
considered  splendid  structures,  active  trade,  increasing  com 
merce,  and  growing  manufactures  as  the  only  things  worthy  of 
our  care  as  public-spirited  citizens.  A  moment's  reflection 


l82  TO  RELIGIOUS  AND 

reminds  us  that  this  is  wrong.  The  citizen  is  a  better  business 
man  if  he  is  a  Christian  gentleman,  and  surely  business  is  not 
the  less  prosperous  and  successful  if  conducted  on  Christian 
principles.  This  is  an  extremely  practical,  and  perhaps  not  a 
very  elevated,  view  to  take  of  the  purposes  and  benefits  of  the 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  But  I  assert  that  if  it 
did  no  more  than  to  impress  some  religious  principles  upon 
the  business  of  our  city,  it  would  be  worthy  of  generous  sup 
port.  And  when  we  consider  the  difference,  as  a  member  of 
the  community,  between  the  young  man  who,  under  the  influ 
ence  of  such  an  association,  has  learned  his  duty  to  his  fellows 
and  to  the  State,  and  that  one  who,  subject  to  no  moral 
restraint,  yields  to  temptation  and  thus  becomes  vicious  and 
criminal,  the  importance  of  an  institution  among  us  which 
leads  our  youth  and  young  men  in  the  way  of  morality  and 
good  citizenship  must  be  freely  admitted. 

I  have  thus  only  referred  to  this  association  as  in  some  man 
ner  connected  with  our  substantial  prosperity.  There  is  a 
higher  theme  connected  with  this  subject  which  touches  the 
welfare,  temporal  and  spiritual,  of  the  objects  of  its  care. 
Upon  this  I  will  not  dwell.  I  cannot,  however,  pass  on  with 
out  invoking  the  fullest  measure  of  honor  and  consideration 
due  to  the  self-sacrificing  and  disinterested  efforts  of  the 
men — and  women,  too — who  have  labored  amid  trials  and 
discouragements  to  plant  this  Association  firmly  upon  sure 
foundation.  We  all  hope  and  expect  that  our  city  has  en 
tered  upon  a  course  of  unprecedented  prosperity  and  growth. 
But  to  my  mind  not  all  the  signs  about  us  point  more  surely  to 
real  greatness  than  the  event  which  we  here  celebrate. 

Good  and  pure  government  lies  at  the  foundation  of  the 
wealth  and  progress  of  every  community. 

As  the  Chief  Executive  of  this  proud  city,  I  congratulate  all 
my  fellow-citizens  that  to-day  we  lay  the  foundation  stone  of 
an  edifice  which  shall  be  a  beautiful  adornment,  and,  what  is 
more  important,  shall  inclose  within  its  walls  such  earnest 
Christian  endeavors  as  must  make  easier  all  our  efforts  to 


CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS.  183 

administer,  safely  and  honestly,  a  good  municipal  government. 
I  commend  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  to  the 
cheerful  and  generous  support  of  every  citizen,  and  trust  that 
long  after  the  men  who  have  wrought  so  well  in  establishing 
these  foundations  shall  have  surrendered  lives  well  spent,  this 
building  shall  stand  a  monument  of  well  directed,  pious  labor, 
to  shed  its  benign  influence  on  generations  yet  to  come. 


IV. 

To  the  Cardinal  Gibbons  Reception  Committee. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  January  26,  1887. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: 

I  have  received  from  you,  as  one  of  the  Committee  of  the 
Catholic  Club  of  Philadelphia,  an  invitation  to  attend  a  ban 
quet  to  be  given  by  the  club,  on  Tuesday  evening,  Feb 
ruary  8,  in  honor  of  His  Eminence  Cardinal  Gibbons.  The 
thoughtfulness  which  prompted  this  invitation  is  gratefully 
appreciated;  and  I  regret  that  my  public  duties  here  will  pre 
vent  its  acceptance.  I  should  be  glad  to  join  in  the  contem 
plated  expression  of  respect  to  be  tendered  to  the  distinguished 
head  of  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  United  States,  whose  per 
sonal  acquaintance  I  very  much  enjoy,  and  who  is  so  worthily 
entitled  to  the  esteem  of  all  his  fellow-citizens. 

I  thank  you  for  the  admirable  letter  which  accompanies  my 
invitation,  in  which  you  announce  as  one  of  the  doctrines  of 
your  club  "that  a  good  and  exemplary  Catholic  must  ex  neces 
sitate  rei  be  a  good  and  exemplary  citizen,"  and  that  "the 
teachings  of  both  human  and  Divine  law  thus  merging  in  the 
one  word,  duty,  form  the  only  union  of  Church  and  State  that 
a  civil  and  religious  government  can  recognize." 

I  know  you  will  permit  me,  as  a  Protestant,  to  supplement 
this  noble  sentiment  by  the  expression  of  my  conviction  that 
the  same  influence  and  result  follow  a  sincere  and  consistent 


I<>4  TO  RELIGIOUS  AND 

devotion   to   the  teachings   of  every  religious  creed   which  is 
based  upon  Divine  sanction. 

A  wholesome  religious  faith  thus  inures  to  the  perpetuity,  the 
safety  and  the  prosperity  of  our  Republic,  by  exacting  the  due 
observance  of  civil  law,  the  preservation  of  public  order,  and  a 
proper  regard  for  the  rights  of  all;  and  thus  are  its  adherents 
better  fitted  for  good  citizenship  and  confirmed  in  a  sure  and 
steadfast  patriotism.  It  seems  to  me,  too,  that  the  conception 
of  duty  to  the  State  which  is  derived  from  religious  precept 
involves  a  sense  of  personal  responsibility,  which  is  of  the 
greatest  value  in  the  operation  of  the  government  by  the  peo 
ple.  It  will  be  a  fortunate  day  for  our  country  when  every 
citizen  feels  that  he  has  an  ever-present  duty  to  perform  to  the 
State  which  he  cannot  escape  from  or  neglect  without  being 
false  to  his  religious  as  well  as  his  civil  allegiance. 

Wishing  for  your  club  the  utmost  success  in  its  efforts  to 
bring  about  this  result, 

I  am, 

Yours  sincerely, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


V. 

At  the  Laying  of  the    Y.  M.  C.  A.  Building  Corner  Stone, 
Kansas  City,  Mo.,  October  13,   1887. 

In  the  busy  activities  of  our  daily  life  we  are  apt  to  neglect 
instrumentalities  which  are  quietly,  but  effectually,  doing  most 
important  service  in  molding  our  national  character.  Among 
these,  and  challenging  but  little  notice  compared  with  their 
valuable  results,  are  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Associations 
scattered  throughout  our  country.  All  will  admit  the  supreme 
importance  of  that  honesty  and  fixed  principle  which  rest 
upon  Christian  motives  and  purposes,  and  all  will  acknowledge 
the  sad  and  increasing  temptations  which  beset  our  young  men 
and  lure  them  to  their  destruction. 


CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS.  I5 

To  save  these  young  men,  oftentimes  deprived  of  the 
restraints  of  home,  from  degradation  and  ruin,  and  to  fit  them 
for  usefulness  and  honor,  these  associations  have  entered  the 
field  of  Christian  effort  and  are  pushing  their  noble  work. 
When  it  is  considered  that  the  subjects  of  their  efforts  are  to 
be  the  active  men  for  good  or  evil  in  the  next  generation,  mere 
worldly  prudence  dictates  that  these  associations  should  be 
aided  and  encouraged. 

Their  increase  and  flourishing  condition  reflect  the  highest 
honor  upon  the  good  men  .who  have  devoted  themselves  to  this 
work,  and  demonstrate  that  the  American  people  are  not 
entirely  lacking  in  appreciation  of  its  value.  Twenty  years 
ago  but  one  of  these  associations  owned  a  building,  and  that 
was  valued  at  only  $11,000.  To-day  more  than  one  hundred 
such  buildings,  valued  at  more  than  $5,000,000,  beautify  the 
different  cities  of  our  land  and  beckon  our  young  men  to  lives 
of  usefulness. 

I  am  especially  pleased  to  be  able  to  participate  to-day  in 
laying  the  corner  stone  of  another  of  these  edifices  in  this 
active  and  growing  city ;  and  I  trust  that  the  encouragement 
given  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  located  here  may 
be  commensurate  with  its  assured  usefulness,  and  in  keeping 
with  the  generosity  and  intelligence  which  characterize  the 
people  of  Kansas  City. 


VI. 
To  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  Washington,  December  9,  1887. 

MR.  PRESIDENT: 

I  am  glad  to  meet  so  large  a  delegation  from  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  of  the  United  States.  I  understand  the  purpose  of 
this  Alliance  to  be  the  application  of  Christian  rules  of  con 
duct  to  the  problems  and  exigencies  of  social  and  political 
life. 

Such  a  movement  cannot   fail  to  produce  the  most  valuable 


1 86  TO  RELIGIOUS  AND 

results.  All  must  admit  that  the  reception  of  the  teachings  of 
Christianity  results  in  the  purest  patriotism,  in  the  most 
scrupulous  fidelity  to  public  trust,  and  in  the  best  type  of  citi 
zenship.  Those  who  manage  the  affairs  of  government  are  by 
this  means  reminded  that  the  law  of  God  demands  that  they 
should  be  courageously  true  to  the  interests  of  the  people,  and 
that  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe  will  require  of  them  a  strict 
account  of  their  stewardship.  The  people,  too,  are  thus 
taught  that  their  happiness  and  welfare  will  be  best  promoted 
by  a  conscientious  regard  for  the  interest  of  a  common  brother 
hood,  and  that  the  success  of  a  government  by  the  people 
depends  upon  the  morality,  the  justice,  and  the  honesty  of  the 
people. 

I  am  especially  pleased  to  know  that  your  efforts  are  not 
cramped  and  limited  by  denominational  lines,  and  that  your 
credentials  are  found  in  a  broad  Christian  fellowship.  Mani 
festly,  if  you  seek  to  teach  your  countrymen  toleration  you 
yourselves  must  be  tolerant;  if  you  would  teach  them  liberality 
for  the  opinions  of  each  other,  you  yourselves  must  be  liberal; 
and  if  you  would  teach  them  unselfish  patriotism,  you  yourselves 
must  be  unselfish  and  patriotic.  There  is  enough  of  work  in 
the  field  you  have  entered  to  enlist  the  hearty  co-operation  of 
all  who  believe  in  the  value  and  efficacy  of  Christian  teaching 
and  practice. 

Your  noble  mission,  if  undertaken  in  a  broad  and  generous 
spirit,  will  surely  arrest  the  attention  and  respectful  considera 
tion  of  your  fellow-citizens;  and  your  endeavors,  consecrated 
by  benevolence  and  patriotic  love,  must  exert  a  powerful  influ 
ence  in  the  enlightenment  and  improvement  of  our  people,  in 
illustrating  the  strength  and  stability  of  our  institutions,  and 
in  advancing  the  prosperity  and  greatness  of  our  beloved 
land. 


CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS.  187 

VII. 

Before  the  Northern  and  Southern   Presbyterian  Assem 
blies  at  Philadelphia,  May  23,   1888. 

I  am  very  much  gratified  by  the  opportunity  here  afforded 
me  to  meet  the  representatives  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 

Surely  a  man  never  should  lose  his  interest  in  the  welfare  of 
the  Church  in  which  he  was  reared;  and  yet  I  will  not  find 
fault  with  any  of  you  who  deem  it  a  sad  confession  made  when 
I  acknowledge  that  I  must  recall  the  days  now  long  past,  to  find 
my  closest  relation  to  the  grand  and  noble  denomination  which 
you  represent.  I, say  this  because  those  of  us  who  inherit 
fealty  to  our  Church,  as  I  did,  begin  early  to  learn  those  things 
which  make  us  Presbyterians  all  the  days  of  our  lives;  and 
thus  it  is  that  the  rigors  of  our  early  teaching,  by  which  we  are 
grounded  in  our  lasting  allegiance,  are  especially  vivid,  and 
perhaps  the  best  remembered.  The  attendance  upon  church 
service  three  times  each  Sunday,  and  upon  Sabbath  school  dur 
ing  the  noon  intermission,  may  be  irksome  enough  to  a  boy  of 
ten  or  twelve  years  of  age  to  be  well  fixed  in  his  memory ;  but  I 
have  never  known  a  man  who  regretted  these  things  in  the  years 
of  his  maturity.  The  Shorter  Catechism,  though  thoroughly 
studied  and  learned,  was  not,  perhaps,  at  the  time  perfectly 
understood,  and  yet,  in  the  stern  labors  and  duties  of  afterlife, 
those  are  not  apt  to  be  the  worst  citizens  who  were  early 
taught:  "What  is  the  chief  end  of  man  ?  " 

Speaking  of  these  things  and  in  the  presence  of  those  here 
assembled,  the  most  tender  thoughts  crowd  upon  my  mind — all 
connected  with  Presbyterianism  and  its  teachings.  There  are 
present  with  me  now  memories  of  a  kind  and  affectionate 
father,  consecrated  to  the  cause,  and  called  to  his  rest  and  his 
reward  in  the  midday  of  his  usefulness ;  a  sacred  recollection 
of  the  prayers  and  pious  love  of  a  sainted  mother,  and  a  family 
circle  hallowed  and  sanctified  by  the  spirit  of  Presbyterianism. 

I  certainly  cannot  but  express  the  wish  and  hope  that  the 
Presbyterian  Church  will  always  be  at  the  front  in  every  move- 


i88 


TO  RELIGIOUS  AND 


ment  which  promises  the  temporal  as  well  as  the  spiritual 
advancement  of  mankind.  In  the  turmoil  and  the  bustle  of 
everyday  life  few  men  are  foolish  enough  to  ignore  the  practi 
cal  value  to  our  people  and  our  country  of  the  Church  organi 
zations  established  among  us,  and  the  advantage  of  Christian 
example  and  teachings. 

The  field  is  vast,  and  the  work  sufficient  to  engage  the  efforts 
of  every  sect  and  denomination;  but  I  am  inclined  to  believe 
that  the  Church  which  is  most  tolerant  and  conservative,  with 
out  loss  of  spiritual  strength,  will  soonest  find  the  way  to  the 
hearts  and  affections  of  the  people.  While  we  may  be  par 
doned  for  insisting  that  our  denomination  is«the  best,  we  may, 
I  think,  safely  concede  much  that  is  good  to  all  other  Churches 
that  seek  to  make  men  better. 

I  am  here  to  greet  the  delegates  of  two  General  Assemblies 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church.  One  is  called  "North"  and  the 
other  "South."  The  subject  is  too  deep  and  intricate  for  me; 
but  I  cannot  help  wondering  why  this  should  be.  These 
words,  so  far  as  they  denote  separation  and  estrangement, 
should  be  obsolete.  In  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  in  the 
business  of  the  country,  they  no  longer  mean  reproach  and 
antagonism.  Even  the  soldiers  who  fought  for  the  North  and 
for  the  South  are  restored  to  fraternity  and  unity.  This  fra 
ternity  and  unity  are  taught  and  enjoined  by  our  Church. 
When  shall  she  herself  be  united,  with  all  the  added  strength 
and  usefulness  that  harmony  and  union  insure? 


VIII. 

To  a  Meeting  for  Promoting  the  Free  Library  Movement, 
New   York,  March  6,  1890. 

MR.   CHAIRMAN  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

The  few  words  I  shall  speak  on  this  occasion,  I  intend  rather 
as  a  pledge  of  my  adherence  to  the  cause  in  which  you  are 
enlisted,  than  an  attempt  to  say  anything  new  or  instructive. 


CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS.  189 

I  gladly  join,  with  the  enthusiasm  of  a  new  convert,  in  the 
felicitations  of  those  who  have  done  noble  and  effective  work 
in  the  establishment  and  maintenance  in  our  city  of  a  free  cir 
culating  library;  and  it  seems  to  me  they  have  abundant  cause 
for  congratulation  in  a  review  of  the  good  which  has  already 
been  accomplished  through  their  efforts,  and  in  the  contempla 
tion  of  the  further  usefulness  which  awaits  their  continued 
endeavor. 

In  every  enlightened  country  the  value  of  popular  education 
is  fully  recognized,  not  only  as  a  direct  benefit  to  its  recipi 
ents,  but  as  an  element  of  strength  and  safety  in  organized 
society.  Considered  in  these  aspects,  it  should  nowhere  be 
better  appreciated  than  in  this  land  of  free  institutions,  conse 
crated  to  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  its  citizens,  and  deriv 
ing  its  sanction  and  its  power  from  the  people.  Here  the 
character  of  the  people  is  inevitably  impressed  upon  the  gov 
ernment,  and  here  our  public  life  can  no  more  be  higher  and 
purer  than  the  life  of  the  people,  than  a  stream  can  rise  above 
its  fountain  or  be  purer  than  the  spring  in  which  it  has  its 
source. 

That  we  have  not  failed  to  realize  these  conditions  is  demon 
strated  by  the  establishment  of  free  public  schools  on  every 
side,  where  children  are  not  only  invited  but  often  obliged  to 
submit  themselves  to  such  instruction  as  will  better  their  situ 
ation  in  life  and  fit  them  to  take  part  intelligently  in  the  con 
duct  of  the  government. 

Thus  in  our  schools  the  young  are  taught  to  read,  and  in 
this  manner  the  seed  is  sown  from  which  we  expect  a  profitable 
return  to  the  state,  when  its  beneficiaries  shall  repay  the  edu- 
tional  advances  made  to  them  by  an  intelligent  and  patriotic 
performance  of  their  social  and  political  duties. 

And  yet,  if  we  are  to  create  good  citizenship,  which  is  the 
object  of  popular  education,  and  if  we  are  to  insure  to  the 
country  the  full  benefit  of  public  instruction,  we  can  by  no 
means  consider  the  work  as  completely  done  in  the  school 
room.  While  the  young  gathered  there  are  fitting  themselves 


T9°  TO  RELIGIOUS  AND 

to  assume  in  the  future  their  political  obligations,  there  are 
others  upon  whom  these  obligations  already  rest,  and  who  now 
have  the  welfare  and  safety  of  the  country  in  their  keeping. 
Our  work  is  badly  done  if  these  are  neglected.  They  have 
passed  the  school  age,  and  have  perhaps  availed  themselves  of 
free  instruction;  but  they,  as  well  as  those  still  in  school, 
should,  nevertheless,  have  within  their  reach  the  means  of 
further  mental  improvement  and  the  opportunity  of  gaining 
that  additional  knowledge  and  information  which  can  only  be 
secured  by  access  to  useful  and  instructive  books. 

The  husbandman  who  expects  to  gain  a  profitable  return 
from  his  orchards  not  only  carefully  tends  and  cultivates  the 
young  trees  in  his  nurseries  as  they  grow  to  maturity,  but  he 
generously  enriches  and  cares  for  those  already  in  bearing  and 
upon  which  he  must  rely  for  ripened  fruit. 

Teaching  the  children  of  our  land  to  read  is  but  the  first 
step  in  the  scheme  of  creating  good  citizens  by  means  of  free 
instruction.  We  teach  the  young  to  read  so  that,  both  as 
children  and  as  men  and  women,  they  may  read.  Our  teaching 
must  lead  to  the  habit  and  the  desire  of  reading,  to  be  useful; 
and  only  as  this  result  is  reached,  can  the  work  in  our  free 
schools  be  logically  supplemented  and  made  valuable. 

Therefore,  the  same  wise  policy  and  intent  which  open  (he 
doors  of  our  free  schools  to  our  young  also  suggest  the  com 
pletion  of  the  plan  thus  entered  upon,  by  placing  books  in 
the  hands  of  those  who,  in  our  schools,  have  been  taught  to 
read. 

A  man  or  woman  who  never  reads  and  is  abandoned  to 
unthinking  torpor,  or  who  allows  the  entire  mental  life  to  be 
bounded  by  the  narrow  lines  of  a  daily  recurring  routine  of 
effort  for  mere  existence,  cannot  escape  a  condition  of  barren 
ness  of  mind  which  not  only  causes  the.  decay  of  individual 
contentment  and  happiness,  but  which  fails  to  yield  to  the 
state  its  justly  expected  return  of  usefulness  in  valuable  service 
and  wholesome  political  action. 

Another  branch  of  this  question   should  not  be  overlooked. 


C/f.-l  RI TA RLE  ORGA NIZ.  I  TIONS.  1 9  r 

It  is  not  only  of  great  importance  that  our  youth  and  our  men 
and  women  should  have  the  ability,  the  desire,  and  the  oppor 
tunity  to  read,  but  the  kind  of  books  they  read  is  no  less 
important.  Without  guidance  and  without  the  invitation  and 
encouragement  to  read  publications  which  will  improve  as  well 
as  interest,  there  is  danger  that  our  people  will  have  in  their 
hands  books  whose  influence  and  tendency  are  of  a  negative 
e-ort,  if  not  positively  bad  and  mischievous.  Like  other  good 
things,  the  ability  and  opportunity  to  read  may  be  so  used  as 
to  defeat  their  beneficent  purposes. 

The  boy  who  greedily  devours  the  vicious  tales  of  imaginary 
daring  and  blood-curdling  adventure,  which  in  these  days  are 
far  too  accessible  to  the  young,  will  have  his  brain  filled  with 
notions  of  life  and  standards  of  manliness  which,  if  they  do 
not  make  him  a  menace  to  peace  and  good  order,  will  certainly 
not  tend  to  make  him  a  useful  member  of  society. 

The  man  who  devotes  himself  to  the  flash  literature  now 
much  too  common  will,  instead  of  increasing  his  value  as  a 
citizen,  almost  surely  degenerate  in  his  ideas  of  public  duty 
and  grow  dull  in  his  appreciation  of  the  obligations  he  owes 
his  country. 

In  both  these  cases  there  will  be  a  loss  to  the  state.  There 
is  danger  also  that  a  positive  and  aggressive  injury  to  the 
community  will  result;  and  such  readers  will  certainly  suffer  de 
privation  of  the  happiness  and  contentment  which  are  the  fruits 
of  improving  study  and  well-regulated  thought. 

So,  too,  the  young  woman  who  seeks  recreation  and  enter 
tainment  in  reading  silly  and  frivolous  books,  often  of  doubtful 
moral  tendency,  is  herself  in  the  way  of  becoming  frivolous 
and  silly,  if  not  of  weak  morality.  If  she  escapes  this  latter 
condition,  she  is  almost  certain  to  become  utterly  unfitted  to 
bear  patiently  the  burden  of  self-support,  or  to  assume  the 
sacred  duties  of  wife  and  mother. 

Contemplating  these  truths,  no  one  can  doubt  the  importance 
of  securing  for  those  who  read,  as  far  as  it  is  in  our  power, 
facilities  for  the  study  and  reading  of  such  books  as  will 


192  TO  RELIGIOUS  AND 

instruct  and  innocently  entertain,  and  which  will,  at  the  same 
time,  improve  and  correct  the  tastes  and  desires. 

There  is  another  thought  somewhat  in  advance  of  those 
already  suggested,  which  should  not  pass  unnoticed. 

As  an  outgrowth  of  the  inventive  and  progressive  spirit  of 
our  people,  we  have  among  us  legions  of  men,  and  women  too, 
who  restlessly  desire  to  increase  their  knowledge  of  the  new 
forces  and  agencies,  which,  at  this  time,  are  being  constantly 
dragged  from  their  lurking-places  and  subjected  to  the  use  of 
man.  These  earnest  inquirers  should  all  be  given  a  chance 
and  have  put  within  their  reach  such  books  as  will  guide  and 
inspire  their  efforts.  If,  by  this  means,  the  country  shall  gain 
to  itself  a  new  inventor,  or  be  the  patron  of  endeavor  which 
shall  add  new  elements  to  the  sum  of  human  happiness  and 
comfort,  its  intervention  will  be  well  repaid. 

These  considerations,  and  the  fact  that  many  among  us  hav 
ing  the  ability  and  inclination  to  read  are  unable  to  furnish 
themselves  with  profitable  and'wholesome  books,  amply  justify 
the  beneficent  mission  of  our  Free  Circulating  Library.  Its 
plan  and  operation,  so  exactly  adjusted  to  meet  a  situation 
which  cannot  safely  be  ignored  and  to  wants  which  ought 
not  to  be  neglected,  establish  its  claim  upon  the  encouragement 
and  reasonable  aid  of  the  public  authorities  and  commend  it 
most  fully  to  the  support  and  generosity  of  private  bene 
faction. 

The  development  which  this  good  work  has  already  reached 
in  our  city  has  exhibited  the  broad  field  yet  remaining 
untouched,  and  the  inadequacy  of  present  operations.  It  has 
brought  to  view  also  instances  of  noble  individual  philanthropy 
and  disinterested  private  effort  and  contribution. 

But  it  certainly  seems  that  the  time  and  money  directed  to 
this  object  are  confined  to  a  circle  of  persons  far  too  narrow, 
and  that  the  public  encouragement  and  aid  have  been  greatly 
disproportioned  to  private  endeavor. 

The  city  of  New  York  has  never  shown  herself  willing  to  be 
behind  other  cities  in  such  work  as  is  done  by  our  Free  Circq- 


CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS.  193 

lating  Library,  and,  while  her  people  are  much  engrossed  in 
business  activity  and  enterprise,  they  have  never  yet  turned 
away  from  a  cause  once  demonstrated  to  them  to  be  so  worthy 
and  useful  as  this. 

The  demonstration  is  at  hand.  Let  it  be  pressed  upon  our 
fellow-citizens,  and  let  them  be  shown  the  practical  operation 
of  the  project  you  have  in  hand  and  the  good  it  has  accom 
plished,  and  the  further  good  of  which  it  is  capable  through 
their  increased  liberality,  and  it  will  be  strange  if  they  fail  to 
respond  generously  to  your  appeal  to  put  the  city  of  New  York 
in  the  front  rank  of  the  cities  which  have  recognized  the  use 
fulness  of  free  circulating  libraries. 


IX. 

At   the    Ninth    Annual  Meeting  of  the  Actors     Fund  of 
America,  January  3,   1890. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,   AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

If  my  appearance  here  to-day  serves  no  other  purpose,  I 
hope  I  may  say,  without  offense  to  anyone,  that  it  illustrates  the 
progress  of  our  time  in  toleration  and  liberality  of  sentiment. 
I  was  reared  and  taught  in  the  strictest  school  of  Presby- 
terianism.  I  remember  well  the  precious  precepts  and  exam 
ples  of  my  early  days,  and  I  acknowledge  that  to  them  I  owe 
every  faculty  of  usefulness  I  possess,  and  every  just  apprehen 
sion  of  the  duties  and  obligations  of  life.  But  though  still 
clinging  to  these  with  unabated  faith  and  steadfastness,  I  meet 
and  congratulate  you  on  this  occasion,  not  only  without  the 
least  vestige  of  moral  compunction,  but  with  great  pleasure  and 
satisfaction. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  remind  this  audience  that,  whether 
right  or  wrong,  such  a  condition  could  not  always  be  antici 
pated,  for  the  time  is  within  the  remembrance  of  us  all  when,  in 
many  quarters  of  our  country,  very  little  good  was  acknowl 
edged  to  exist  in  the  dramatic  profession.  We  are  certain 


TO  RKIJGIOUS  AND 


there  has  been  a  change  in  the  relation  your  profession  bears 
to  the  people  at  large;  and,  while  much  of  this  change  is 
undoubtedly  due  to  the  growth  of  more  liberal  ideas,  it  will 
not  do  to  overlook  the  fact  that  you  yourselves  have,  by  a  con 
stant  regard  to  the  ethics  of  your  calling,  contributed  perhaps 
in  a  greater  degree  to  the  breaking  down  of  old  prejudices  and 
misconceptions.  At  all  events,  we,  as  laymen,  know  that  we 
are  freer  from  bigoted  intolerance;  and  you,  as  members  of  the 
dramatic  profession,  must  feel  that  you  are  greatly  relieved 
from  unjust  suspicions. 

We  all  see  less  and  less  reason  why  our  ministers  should 
quote  Shakspere  from  their  pulpits  and  we  be  prohibited 
from  seeing  and  hearing  his  works  better  interpreted  on  the 
stage.  We  see  still  less  consistency  in  permitting  the  perusal 
of  books  of  fiction,  which  only  sometimes  teach  wholesome 
moral  lessons,  and  at  the  same  time  prohibiting  attendance 
upon  the  well-regulated  and  conventional  play,  where  virtue 
is  always  triumphant  and  villainy  is  always  circumvented. 

But  while  I  can  say  that  I  am  not  at  all  perplexed  at  this 
moment  by  my  Presbyterianism,  I  cannot  claim  that  my  posi 
tion  before  such  an  audience  as  this  is  entirely  free  from 
embarrassment.  I  have  been  told  by  one  of  my  best  friends, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  one  of  the  best  actors  I  ever  saw,  that 
at  a  play  an  audience  of  actors  are  critical,  but  kind  and 
patient.  This  reflection  is,  of  course,  reassuring  as  far  as  it 
But,  since  I  agreed  to  meet  you  here  to-day,  it  has 
often  occurred  to  me  that  I  had  no  guarantee  of  your  kindness 
and  patience  except  at  a  play;  and  that  perhaps  when  you  see 
your  places  on  the  stage  occupied  by  those  not  of  your  broth 
erhood,  you  may  still  be  critical,  but  neither  kind  nor  patient. 
In  these  circumstances,  I  may  as  well  confess  now  and  here, 
that,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  promptings  of  weak  and 
unamiable  human  nature,  I  have  stifled  all  misgivings  as  to 
what  I  may  inflict  upon  you—  if  I  have  not  rid  myself  of  anx 
iety—by  the  reflection  that,  however  much  I  may  fall  short  of 
your  approbation,  I  cannot  possibly  take  of  you  excessive 


CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS.  195 

reprisals  for  the  dreary  speaking  and  acting  that  have  at  times 
been  inflicted  upon  me  when  some  of  your  profession  have 
been  upon  the  stage  and  I  in  the  audience. 

It  is  very  doubtful  whether  there  is  much  appropriateness  in 
the  ideas  I  have  thus  far  presented,  in  the  light  of  the  fact  that 
we  have  met  to  review  the  work  of  a  noble  charity;  for,  though 
this  particular  enterprise  has  its  rise  within  the  limits  of  the 
dramatic  profession,  surely,  in  the  things  which  pertain  to  the 
relief  of  the  sick  and  suffering,  and  to  the  aid  and  comfort  of 
the  unfortunate  and  afflicted,  all  who  are  charitably  inclined 
belong  to  one  fraternity.  The  sentiment  of  charity  arouses  all 
that  is  worth  having  in  human  nature,  and  in  its  work  it  weaves 
the  bands  which  hold  mankind  in  gentle  kinship. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  speaking  of  one  characteristic  of  the 
charity  you  have  in  charge,  which  to  me  is  especially  gratify 
ing.  Necessarily,  in  the  administration  of  many  benevolent 
enterprises,  the  conditions  of  participation  in  their  benefits  are 
so  exacting  and  the  investigations  practiced  are  so  searching 
and  unsparing,  that  humiliation  and  sadness  often  accompany 
relief.  It  is  a  most  happy  arrangement  of  the  work  of  your 
organization  that  it  is  done  directly,  promptly,  and  without 
humiliating  incidents;  that  your  relief  is  extended  to  all  in  any 
way  related  to  your  profession,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest 
grade ;  and  that  they  require  no  other  certificate  than  their 
needy  condition.  Thus  there  is  given  to  your  charitable 
efforts  a  sort  of  cordiality  and  heartiness  which  makes  your 
assistance  doubly  welcome. 

I  remember  well  how  impressed  I  was  by  this  feature  of 
your  charity,  when,  six  or  seven  years  ago,  I  first  knew  of  the 
existence  of  your  organization,  and  was  urged,  as  Governor  of 
the  State,  to  attend  an  entertainment  to  be  given  for  its  bene 
fit;  and  how  it  determined  me  to  set  aside  my  objections  and 
accept  the  invitation  which  was  so  cordially  and  persuasively 
presented.  I  have  always  felt  grateful  to  those  who  tendered 
that  invitation,  not  only  for  the  enjoyment  which  the  enter 
tainment  afforded,  but  also  because  I  was  thus  introduced  to  a 


T96  TO  RELIGIOUS  AND 

charity  in  which  1  have  ever  since  taken  a  lively  interest.  You 
at  that  time  placed  my  name  upon  your  roll  of  honorary  mem 
bership,  and  I  am  very  proud  of  it — all  the  more  so  because  if 
not  the  first,  it  was  among  the  first,  there  recorded. 

I  feel,  then,  that  I  am  nearly  enough  related  to  you  and  your 
active  membership  to  join  in  your  felicitations  upon  the  good 
you  have  already  accomplished  and  upon  the  promise  of 
extended  usefulness  in  the  future.  The  record  of  charitable 
accomplishments  which  has  been  presented  by  your  president 
must  be  full  of  satisfaction,  and  must,  of  necessity,  bring  home 
to  you  the  feeling  that  you  have  been  amply  paid  for  all  you 
have  done  for  this  beneficent  organization,  by  the  conscious 
ness  that  you  have  in  this  way  aided  in  alleviating  the  sorrow 
and  the  distress  of  your  "forlorn  and  shipwrecked"  brethren. 

The  highest  and  best  development  of  your  charity,  and  the 
most  important  purpose  of  your  Fund,  will  be  reached  when 
you  are  able  to  provide  a  home  for  those  in  your  profession 
who,  through  age,  sickness,  or  infirmity,  are  unfitted  longer  to 
work  and  struggle.  It  must  be  perfectly  apparent  that,  in  such 
a  retreat,  managed  and  superintended  by  those  who,  from  pro 
fessional  experience  and  sympathy,  are  conversant  with  the 
history  and  peculiar  needs  of  those  whom  it  shelters,  poverty 
would  lose  much  of  its  humiliation,  and  disability  need  not 
rob  the  unfortunate  of  self-respect.  I  hope  the  day  is  not  far 
distant  when  this  important  instrumentality  will  be  added 
to  your  means  of  usefulness. 

You  will  not,  I  trust,  deem  it  amiss  if,  in  conclusion,  I  pre 
sent  a  thought  which  is  apt  to  be  prominent  in  my  mind  on 
occasions  like  this. 

Considering,  as  I  do,  the  dramatic  profession  as  furnishing 
favorable  conditions  for  the  development  of  thoughtful  men,  I 
am  not  fully  satisfied  that  its  members  appreciate,  as  soberly  as 
they  ought,  their  duty  to  our  country.  You  must  yourselves 
confess  that  the  tendency  of  your  occupation  is  somewhat  in 
the  direction  of  isolation,  and  a  separation  from  familiar  con 
tact  with  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life.  These  lead  not  only  to 


CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS.  1 97 

your  being  misunderstood  by  many  of  your  fellow-citizens,  but 
to  the  loss  of  the  advantage  which  your  intelligence  might 
contribute  to  the  common  welfare.  You  are  patriotic  in  senti 
ment,  but  you  are  too  apt  to  think  that  you  perform  your  full 
duty  when  you  do  well  your  professional  work  and  when  you 
keep  the  peace  and  obey  the  laws.  Pardon  me  if  I  say  to  you 
that  all  these  things,  and  all  your  readily  acknowledged  char 
itable  undertakings,  will  not  atone  for  a  neglect  to  discharge 
your  duty  as  it  is  related  to  the  affairs  of  your  country.  This 
government  of  ours  is  constructed  upon  the  theory  that  every 
thoughtful,  intelligent,  and  honest  citizen  will  directly  interest 
himself  in  its  operation;  and  unless  this  is  forthcoming,  its 
best  objects  and  purposes  will  not  be  accomplished. 

As  the  welfare  of  your  country  is  dear  to  you,  as  you  desire 
an  honest  and  wise  administration  of  your  government,  and  as 
your  interests  and  prosperity,  in  common  with  those  of  your 
fellow-citizens,  are  bound  up  in  the  maintenance  of  our  free 
institutions,  do  not  forget  that  these  things  can  only  be  secured 
by  conscientious  political  thought  and  careful  political  action. 


X. 

Before  the   State    Charities    Aid   Association,  New    York, 

May   i,    1891. 

•* 
MR.   PRESIDENT,   AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

When  I  consented  to  say  a  few  words  on  this  occasion,  I 
knew  that  others  would  attend,  and  ably  and  thoroughly  pre 
sent  the  work  and  achievements  of  the  State  Charities  Aid 
Association.  This  knowledge  gave  rise  in  my  mind  to  consid 
erable  doubt  and  hesitation,  because  it  seemed  to  me  that  in 
this  condition  of  the  matter,  the  little  I  could  say  must  appear 
useless — if  nothing  worse.  It  occurred  to  me,  however,  in 
settling  the  question,  that  my  participation  in  this  meeting 
would  probably  benefit  one  person  at  least — and  that  was 
myself.  If  this  suggests  a  motive  for  my  appearance,  which 


!9  TO  RELIGIOUS  AND 

seems  to  have  a  slight  color  of  selfishness,  I  hasten  to  declare 
that  I  would  be  glad  to  share  the  good  effects  of  the  influence 
of  this  occasion  with  all  my  fellow-townsmen  who  might  be 
inclined  to  place  any  value  upon  disinterested  and  well- 
directed  charitable  effort. 

There  are  benefits  originating  in  charitable  activity,  which 
reach  others  besides  those  directly  relieved.  It  is  clear  that 
those  actually  engaged  in  the  ministrations  of  charity  derive  a 
benefit  therefrom.  Physical  exercise  and  outdoor  athletic 
recreation  strengthen  the  muscles  and  invigorate  the  bodily 
powers.  So  charitable  exercise  and  humane  work  strengthen 
the  best  tendencies  of  human  nature  and  invigorate  the  moral 
health.  These  are  the  natural  and  expected  rewards  of  actual 
participation  in  physical  exercise  and  in  the  activity  of  charity. 
.  But  the  thought  I  have  in  my  mind  relates  to  certain  benefits 
resulting  from  charitable  efforts  which  may  accrue  to  those 
who,  simply  as  observers,  are  brought  within  its  influence. 
Those  who  go  out  to  witness  the  physical  exercise  of  others,  or 
to  watch  athletic  sports,  receive  a  benefit  by  breathing  the 
fresh  air,  if  in  no  other  way.  So,  those  who  witness  charitable 
exercise  and  humane  work,  and  even  those  who  only  put  them 
selves  in  the  way  of  hearing  of  the  results  of  such  exercise  and 
work,  cannot  fail  to  derive  benefit  and  advantage  from  the 
atmosphere  surrounding  them.  They  will  be  cured  of  much 
moral  dyspepsia,  they  will  be  relieved  of  the  atrophy  of  selfish 
ness;  they  are  apt  to  be  better  fitted  for  all  the  duties  of  life, 
while  the  flexibility  and  mobility  of  their  inclinations  toward 
charitable  giving  will,  almost  surely,  be  increased. 

It  is  well,  therefore,  to  keep  before  those  not  actively 
enlisted  in  charity,  the  work  that  is  being  done  by  others — to 
the  end,  that,  by  a  process  of  absorption  or  leavening,  the 
charitable  and  kindly  feeling  which  should  characterize  Ameri 
can  civilization  may  be  quickened  among  our  people. 

I  hope  I  have  not  placed  too  much  stress  upon  the  value  of 
the  benevolent  sentiment  which  may  be  cultivated  by  the  con- 


CIIAKITA  RLE  ORGANIZA  TTONS.  199 

templation  of  charitable  work,  by  those  who  are  simply 
bystanders— even  though  they  remain  bystanders.  I  cannot 
help  thinking,  that,  in  a  country  like  ours,  where  so  much 
depends  upon  the  virtue  of  individuals,  the  improvement  of 
every  impulse  or  inclination  which  makes  men  better  and  more 
unselfish,  is  most  important  to  our  citizenship. 

Besides,  we  do  not  expect  that  those  who  thus  feel  the  influ 
ence  which  is  spread  abroad  by  the  charitable  activity  of  others, 
will  long  remain  mere  bystanders.  What  they  see  and  feel 
ought  to  lead  to  hearty  co-operation— if  not  in  time  and  effort, 
certainly  in  pecuniary  assistance. 

We  commemorate,  to-night,  the  successes  in  humane  work  of 
a  volunteer  association  of  men  and  women  so  organized  that 
their  labor  and  influence  is  found  in  every  neighborhood  of  our 
State.  Theirs  is  a  labor  of  love  and  disinterested  humanity. 
They  ask  no  public  appropriation  of  money,  nor  do  they  seek 
compensation  for  their  services.  What  they  have  done  for  the 
dependent  poor  and  unfortunate  cannot  be  over-valued.  The 
part  they  have  taken  in  rescuing  the  State  from  the  disgrace  of 
its  neglect  of  the  pauper  insane,  and  their  instrumentality  in 
placing  these  afflicted  ones  within  the  reach  of  proper  care  and 
treatment,  are  sufficient  to  entitle  these  earnest  workers  to  the 
gratitude  of  every  good  citizen.  If  there  is  difficulty  in  obtain 
ing  the  small  amount  of  money— beyond  their  own  contribu 
tions—which  is  necessary  to  continue  the  work  of  their  organi 
zation,  it  must  be  that  its  mission  is  not  understood  or  that  the 
bystanders,  of  whom  I  have  spoken,  either  do  not  comprehend 
the  necessities  of  the  situation,  or  are  resisting  the  beneficent 
influences  of  the  association's  existence  and  labors. 

1  have  left  to  others  the  agreeable  task  of  recounting,  in 
detail,  the  direct  benefits  to  the  poor,  the  wretched,  and  the 
unfortunate,  which  have  been  wrought  by  the  association.  I 
have  spoken  of  the  improvement  which  the  influence  and 
example  of  its  members  should  make  in  the  character  of  our 
people.  I  desire  now  to  suggest  a  way  by  which  the  work  of 


200  TO  RELIGIOUS  AND 

the  association  may  be  made  useful  to  our  State  charitable 
institutions  themselves,  altogether  aside  from  the  correction  of 
any  wrongs  and  abuses  in  their  management. 

We  all  know  that  there  is  among  our  people  a  readiness  to 
suspect  the  existence  of  neglect  and  cruelty  in  the  conduct  of 
these  institutions.  This  is  evidenced  by  the  unquestioning 
credence  which  is  accorded  to  the  most  sensational  reports 
concerning  the  ill-treatment  of  the  paupers  in  our  poorhouses, 
of  the  insane  in  our  asylums,  and  of  the  sick  in  our  hospitals. 
We  all  know,  too,  that,  though  these  reports  are  sometimes 
unfounded  and  often  grossly  exaggerated,  no  amount  of  official 
denial,  and  frequently  no  exoneration  through  official  investi 
gation,  can  reassure  the  public,  or  shake  the  belief  easily  rooted 
in  the  minds  of  compassionate  citizens,  that  terrible  outrages 
are  committed  behind  the  doors  which  only  open  to  official 
bidding.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  suggest  that  these  appre 
hensions  and  convictions  have  their  rise  in  sentiments  of 
humanity  and  pity,  coupled  with  what  is  construed  to  be  a 
desire  for  the  concealment  of  the  actual  situation. 

It  is  perfectly  plain  that  such  a  want  of  confidence  on  the 
part  of  the  people,  in  the  proper  management  of  our  public 
charitable  institutions,  must  remove  the  chief  supports  of  their 
usefulness  and  prevent  their  fulfillment  of  the  purposes  of  their 
maintenance.  The  avoidance  of  such  conditions  can  in  no 
way  be  better  secured,  nor  can  a  surer  safeguard  against  such 
groundless  and  sensational  accusations  be  provided,  than  by 
the  frequent  visitation  and  inspection  of  these  institutions  by 
prudent,  intelligent,  and  sensible  men  and  women  in  their 
localities,  respected  and  trusted  by  the  entire  community,  and 
volunteering  in  the  service.  The  further  removed  they  are 
from  official  limitations  and  regulation,  the  more  implicit  faith 
and  confidence  will  their  neighbors  and  fellow-citizens  place 
in  their  reports  and  representations.  It  would  be  exceedingly 
difficult  for  unfounded  accusations  and  tales  of  horror  to  gain 
a  foothold  against  the  testimony  of  such  disinterested  and 
unpaid  visitors,  and  the  quiet  existence  of  conditions,  which,  if 


CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS.  20 1 

known,   might    justify    accusation    and    suspicion,    would    be 
impossible  under  their  watchful  visitations. 

I  do  not  overlook  the  fact  that  such  visitation  and  inspection 
might  be  regarded,  with  some  reason,  as  an  interference  with 
necessary  official  management  and  administration  and  might 
thus  cause  irritation  and  trouble.  But  the  danger  of  such 
consequences  I  am  sure  could  be  avoided  by  care  in  the  selec 
tion  of  the  visitors  and  by  the  employment  of  only  those  of 
good  judgment  and  conservative  disposition.  Indeed,  visitors 
of  that  kind  must,  of  necessity,  be  selected,  if  any  good  purpose 
is  to  be  accomplished  through  their  efforts.  At  any  rate,  I 
believe  the  wholesome  checks  to  the  improper  treatment  of  the 
unfortunate  wards  of  the  State  and  the  protection  of  our  char 
itable  institutions  against  unjust  attack,  which  volunteer  visita 
tion  and  inspection  would  secure,  much  more  than  counter 
balance  the  risk  of  any  objectionable  results. 

Besides,  in  considering  this  plan  of  charitable  work,  we 
have  something  more  reliable  and  satisfactory  to  guide  us  than 
mere  theory  and  presumption.  For  ten  years  the  members  and 
agents  of  the  State  Charities  Aid  Association  have  been  per 
mitted  by  law  to  visit  and  inspect  the  county,  city,  and  town 
poorhouses  and  almshouses  within  the  State.  The. far- reaching 
good  which  has  resulted  from  these  limited  ministrations  of 
the  Association  can  hardly  be  estimated;  and  I  have  never 
heard  of  any  instance  where  harm  has  resulted. 

With  such  a  demonstration  before  us,  and  thus  having  rea 
son  and  experience  to  support  us,  we  are  abundantly  justified 
in  asking  that  the  Association's  right  of  visitation  and  inspec 
tion  be  extended,  so  that  it  shall  apply  to  all  the  asylums  and 
other  charitable  institutions  which  are  under  State  manage 
ment. 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  congratulate  the  members  of  the 
Charities  Aid  Association  on  the  grand  results  of  their  labors, 
and  to  acknowledge  the  beneficence  and  usefulness  of  their 
undertaking.  I  believe  the  encouragement  of  such  endeavors 
as  theirs  is  a  duty  devolving  upon  every  citizen  of  the  State. 


202  CHARITABLE  ORGANIZATIONS. 

Their  mission  should  be  better  understood  and  our  people 
should  be  constantly  reminded  that  charity  not  only  aids  and 
relieves  the  poor  and  distressed,  but  that,  by  its  influence  and 
inspiration,  it  improves  and  broadens  the  best  elements  of 
American  citizenship. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ADDRESESS    BEFORE    PROFESSIONAL    BODIES. 
I. 

Memorial  Tribute  to  Oscar  Folsom,  before  the  Erie  County  Bar 
Association  Meeting,  July  26,  1875. 

IT  has  been  said,  "  Light  sorrows  speak,  great  grief  is 
dumb,"  and  the  application  of  this  would  enforce  my  silence 
on  this  occasion.  But  I  cannot  go  so  far,  nor  let  the  hour 
pass  without  adding  a  tribute  of  respect  and  love  for  my  de 
parted  friend.  He  was  my  friend  in  the  most  sacred  and 
complete  sense  of  the  term.  I  have  walked  with  him,  talked 
with  him,  ate  with  him,  and  slept  with  him— was  he  not  my 

friend  ? 

I  must  not,  dare  not,  recall  the  memories  of  our  long  and 
loving  friendship.  And  let  not  my  brethren  think  it  amiss  if 
1  force  back  the  thoughts  which  come  crowding  to  my  mind. 
I  shall  speak  coldly  of  my  friend  ;  but  the  most  sacred  tribute 
of  a  sad  heart,  believe  me,  is  unspoken. 

In  the  course  of  a  life  not  entirely  devoid  of  startling  inci 
dents,  I  can  truly  say  I  never  was  so  shocked  and  overwhelmed 
as  when  I  heard,  on  Friday  night,  of  the  death  of  Oscar  Fol- 
som.  I  had  an  engagement  with  him  that  evening,  and  was 
momentarily  expecting  him  when  I  received  the  intelligence 
of  his  injury  ;  and  before  I  reached  the  scene  of  the  accident 
I  was  abruptly  told  of  his  death  ;  I  shall  not  attempt  to  de 
scribe  my  emotions.  Death  seemed  so  foreign  to  this  man, 
and  the  exuberance  of  his  life  was  so  marked  and  prominent, 
that  the  idea  of  his  dying,  or  his  death,  seemed  to  me  incon 
gruous  and  out  of  place.  And  before  I  saw  him  dead  I  found 


203 


204       ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES. 

myself   reflecting,   "  How  strange    he   would   look,   dying  or 
dead." 

I  had  seen  him  in  every  other  part  of  the  drama  of  life  but 
this,  and  for  this  he  seemed  unfitted. 

His  remarkable  social  qualities  won  for  him  the  admiration 
of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  while  his  great,  kind 
heart  caused  all  to  love  him  who  knew  him  well.  He  was 
remarkably  true  in  his  friendships,  and  having  really  made  a 
friend  he  "  grappled  him  with  hooks  of  steel."  Open  and 
frank  himself,  he  opposed  deceit  and  indirection.  His  remark 
able  humor  never  had  intentional  sting  ;  and  though  impulsive 
and  quick,  he  was  always  just.  In  the  practice  of  his  profes 
sion  and  in  the  solution  of  legal  questions  he  saw  which  was 
right  and  just,  and  then  expected  to  find  the  law  leading  him 
directly  there. 

It  is  not  strange  to  find  joined  to  a  jovial  disposition  a  kind 
and  generous  heart ;  but  he  had,  besides  these,  a  broad  and 
correct  judgment  and  a  wonderful  knowledge  of  men  and 
affairs;  and  the  instances  are  numerous  in  my  experience 
when  his  strong  common  sense  has  aided  me  easily  through 
difficulties.  Such  was  my  friend. 

The  sadness  of  his  taking  off  has  no  alleviation.  I  shall  not 
dwell  upon  the  harrowing  circumstances.  On  Friday  after 
noon  Oscar  Folsom,  in  the  midday  .of  life,  was  cherishing 
bright  anticipations  for  the  future.  Among  them,  he  had 
planned  a  home  in  an  adjoining  town,  where  he  calculated 
upon  much  retirement  and  quiet.  He  had  already  partially 
perfected  his  arrangements,  which  were  soon  to  be  fully  con 
summated.  Within  forty-eight  hours  he  reached  the  town  of 
his  anticipated  residence.  But  God  had  intervened.  The 
hands  of  loving  friends  bore  him  to  a  home,  but  not  the  home 
he  had  himself  provided.  He  found  peace  in  the  home  that 
God  provides  for  the  sons  of  men,  and  quiet — ah  !  such  quiet- 
in  the  grave.  1  know  how  fleeting  and  how  soon  forgotten 
are  the  lessons  taught  by  such  calamities.  "  The  gay  will 
laugh,  the  solemn  brow  of  care  plod  on,  and  each  one  as  before 


ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES.        205 

pursue  his  favorite  phantom."  Hut  it  seems  to  me  that  long, 
long  years  will  intervene  before  pleasant  memories  of  his  life 
will  be  unmingled  with  the  sad  admonitions  furnished  by  the 
death  of  Oscar  Folsom. 

Let  us  cherish  him  in  loving  remembrance,  and  heed  well 
the  lessons  of  his  death  ;  and  let  our  tenderest  sympathy 
extend  to  a  childless  father,  a  widowed  wife,  and  fatherless 
child. 


II. 

When  presiding  over  the  New  York  State  Bar  Association, 
Albany,  January  8,  1884. 

GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION  : 

At  a  late  hour  I  was  solicited  to  preside  at  your  meeting. 
I  should  certainly  have  felt  that  I  must  decline,  but  for  two 
considerations.  I  was  assured  that  no  address  would  be  ex 
pected  of  me,  and  that  even  a  little  speech,  on  assuming  the 
chair,  might  be  dispensed  with.  This  disposed  of  one  objection 
to  my  consent. 

The  other  consideration  sprang  up  in  my  mind  when  I  reflected 
that  there  would  be  here  an  assemblage  of  my  professional 
brethren,  and  the  impulse  was  irresistible  to  be  among  them  for 
a  time,  though  necessarily  brief,  and  to  feel  about  me  the  atmos 
phere  from  which,  for  a  twelve-month,  I  have  been  excluded.  I 
beg  to  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that  in  the  crowd  of  official  duties 
which  for  the  past  year  have  surrounded  me,  I  have  never  lost 
sight  of  the  guild  to  which  I  am  proud  to  belong,  nor  have  I 
lost  any  of  the  love  and  care  for  the  noble  profession  I  have 
chosen.  On  the  contrary,  as  I  have  seen  the  controlling 
part  which  the  lawyers  of  the  State  assume  in  the  enacting 
of  her  laws,  and  in  all  other  works  that  pertain  to  her  progress 
and  her  welfare,  I  have  appreciated  more  than  ever  the  value 
and  usefulness  of  the  legal  profession.  And,  when  I  have 
seen  how  generally  my  professional  brethren  have  been  faith 
ful  to  their  public  trusts,  my  pride  has  constantly  increased. 


206 


ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES. 


And  yet  from  the  outside  world  I  come  within  the  grateful 
circle  of  professional  life  to  say  to  you  that  much  is  to  be 
done  before  the  bar  of  this  State  will,  in  all  its  parts,  be  what 
we  all  could  wish.  We  hold  honorable  places,  but  we  hold 
places  of  power— if  well  used,  to  protect  and  save  our  fellows; 
if  prostituted  and  badly  used,  to  betray  and  destroy.  It  seems 
to  me  that  a  profession  so  high  and  noble  in  all  the  purposes 
of  its  existence  should  be  only  high  and  noble  in  all  its  results. 
But  we  know  it  is  not  so.  There  is  not  a  member  of  the  bar 
in  this  assemblage  who  has  not  shuddered  when  he  thought  of 
the  wicked  things  he  had  the  power  to  do  safely  ;  and  he  has 
shuddered  again  when  he  recalled  those,  whom  he  was  obliged 
to  call  professional  brothers,  who  needed  but  the  motive  to  do 
these  very  things. 

An  association  like  this,  to  be  really  useful,  must  be  some 
thing  more  than  a  society  devoted  to  the  laudation  of  the 
profession.  It  should  have  duties  to  perform,  earnest  in  their 
nature,  and  not  the  less  boldly  met  because  they  are  disagree 
able.  Those  who  steal  our  livery  to  aid  them  in  the  com 
mission  of  crime  should  be  detected  and  exposed  ;  and  this 
association,  or  branches  of  it,  should  have  watchmen  on  the 
walls  to  protect  the  honor  and  fair  fame  of  the  bar  of  the 
State. 

Your  words  are  fair,  when,  in  your  constitution,  you  declare 
the  objects  of  this  association  to  be  "  to  elevate  the  standard  of 
integrity,  honor,  and  courtesy  in  the  legal  profession  "  ;  and  I 
have  no  doubt  you  have  done  much  in  that  direction  ;  but  I 
hope  I  may  be  pardoned  for  reminding  you  here  that  frequently, 
to  insure  health  and  vigor,  the  bad,  diseased  limbs  of  the  tree 
must  be  lopped  off. 

My  thought  has  carried  me  further  than  I  intended,  lie 
assured  I  have  spoken  in  no  censorious  spirit.  I  congratulate 
the  State  Bar  Association  on  all  it  has  done,  and  for  one  am  de 
termined  to  aid  its  work  as  well  during  my  temporary  profes 
sional  exile  as  when  I  shall  again  gladly  mingle  in  the  con 
tests  of  the  bar, 


ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES.       207 
III. 

At  ike   Laying  of   the    Corner  Stone  of  the  New  Academy  of 
Medicine,  New  York,  October  2,  1889. 

The  congratulation  and  the  satisfaction  which  attend  this 
hour  especially  belong  to  the  members  of  the  Academy  of 
Medicine.  This  is  as  it  should  be,  for  the  exercises  of  to-day 
signalize  an  achievement  wrought  by  their  activity  and  energy, 
and  give  proof  of  their  devotion  and  attachment  to  their 
chosen  profession.  To  the  members  of  this  organization  the 
corner  stone  which  we  now  lay  is  an  honor,  for  it  is  a  monu 
ment  which  marks  an  important  advance  in  the  attainment  of 
the  purpose  of  the  Academy,  as  declared  in  its  constitution  : 
"the  promotion  of  the  science  and  art  of  medicine." 

In  these  extensive  foundations  is  also  found  proof  of  the 
progressive  ideas  of  these  earnest  men  and  their  constantly 
enlarging  estimate  of  what  is  necessary  to  meet  the  purposes  to 
which  their  energy  is  directed.  I  have  lately  seen  a  pamphlet 
containing  the  constitution  and  by-laws  of  the  Academy,  with 
a  prefatory  note  published  only  three  years  ago.  In  this  note 
it  is  declared  that,  from  the  inception  of  the  Academy,  one  of 
its  chief  objects  has  been  the  procurement  of  a  building  or 
hall  where  its  meetings  might  be  held,  where  a  library  and 
museum  could  be  garnered,  and  where  the  profession  could 
meet  on  common  ground.  The  statement  is  added  with  much 
apparent  satisfaction  that  the  efforts  put  forth  in  this  direction 
have  culminated  in  the  purchase  of  a  commodious  building 
centrally  situated,  thus  "  providing  a  library,  hall,  and  au 
dience  room,  which  will,  for  some  time,  answer  the  Academy's 
wants  and  those  of  the  profession."  It  is  already  found  that 
the  commodious  building  which,  three  years  ago,  was  deemed 
sufficient  headquarters  for  the  usefulness  of  the  Academy,  is 
too  small  and  cramped  to  answer  the  beneficent  purposes  of 
the  organization,  and  the  erection  of  a  structure  three  or  four 
times  as  large  has  been  entered  upon.  It  is  thus  evident  that 
the  members  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine,  not  forgetting  the 


208        ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES. 

mission  they  have  undertaken  to  promote  the  science  and  art 
of  medicine,  and,  seeing  broader  avenues  leading  to  this  ob 
ject,  have  promptly,  and  with  an  energy  which  never  fails, 
begun  their  preparations  for  wider  activity  and  more  impor 
tant  results. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  mission  of  the  Academy.  The  nobility 
and  sacred  character  of  this  mission  have  been  often  dwelt  upon. 
It  is  an  old  story,  but  it  will  never  lose  its  interest  while 
humanity  is  touched  with  human  woe  ;  while  self-sacrifice 
receives  the  homage  of  Christian  hearts  ;  while  the  sufferings 
and  sorrows  of  our  fellow-men  start  the  tear  of  pity  ;  nor  while 
their  alleviation  brings  comfort  and  satisfaction  to  the  soul  of 
sympathy. 

These  reflections  easily  and  naturally  lead  to  the  thought 
that  the  members  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine  are  not  entitled 
to  the  absolute  monopoly  of  congratulation  to-day.  All  your 
fellow-citizens  may  well  claim  a  share,  not  only  because  they 
are  interested  in  the  promotion  of  the  science  and  art  of 
medicine,  by  reason  of  their  liability  to  accident  and  disease, 
but  because  such  advance  in  any  profession,  as  is  here  demon 
strated,  adds  to  the  glory  and  renown  of  our  common  country. 
1  am  here  to  claim  for  the  laymen  among  your  fellow-citizens 
a  part  of  the  pride  which  grows  out  of  the  progress  and 
achievement  of  our  medical  profession.  I  base  this  claim 
upon  the  fact  that,  in  this  favored  land  of  ours,  all  interests  are 
so  interwoven  and  all  activities  lead,  or  should  lead,  so 
directly  to  the  accomplishment  of  our  common  national  des 
tiny  that  none  of  us  can  be  indifferent  to  an  important 
advance  among  us  in  any  science  or  industry. 

I  am  sure  that  you  are  not  inclined  to  ignore  the  aid  you 
have  received,  in  the  project  you  have  undertaken,  from  the 
laymen  among  your  fellows.  Nor  can  you  forget  that  underlying 
all  that  you  have  done  and  all  that  you  have  received  are  our 
free  American  institutions,  which  encourage  and  give  scope  to 
every  worthy  effort,  and  which  offer  fitting  rewards  for  intelli 
gent  and  well-directed  labor  in  every  condition  of  life. 


ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES.        209 

You  will  not,  therefore,  I  trust,  deem  it  impertinent  if  I  re 
mind  you  that  none  of  us  is  absolved  from  the  duty  of  aiding 
in  the  maintenance  in  complete  integrity  of  these  free  institu 
tions,  and  that  this  requires  the  thoughtful  care  and  attention 
of  every  citizen.  You  do  much  for  your  country  when  you 
raise  the  standard  and  enlarge  the  usefulness  of  your  profes 
sion  ;  but  you  do  not  accomplish  all  you  can,  nor  do  you 
discharge  your  full  duty  of  citizenship,  unless  you  also  attempt 
to  better  the  condition  of  public  affairs  and  give  to  political 
topics  and  movements  the  benefit  of  your  trained  thought  and 
well-informed  judgment.  In  this  way  you  assist  in  making 
safe  and  sure  the  foundations  upon  which  must  rest  the 
success  and  value  of  all  your  professional  efforts  and  accom 
plishments. 

I  hope,  when  we  shall  celebrate  here  the  discovery  of  our 
country,  that  we  may  point  out  on  this  spot,  in  your  completed 
building,  a  splendid  monument  of  the  progress  of  our  medical 
education,  a  monument  which  shall  not  only  prove  to  the 
stranger  that  our  physicians  are  proud  of  their  profession,  but 
one  which  shall  also  be  a  reminder  that  those  who  govern 
within  its  walls  do  not  forget,  in  their  devotion  to  the  science 
and  art  of  medicine,  their  other  duties  of  citizenship. 


IV. 

Before  the  Medical  Alumni  Association  of  New  York  City, 
February  15,  1890. 

MR.    PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  feel  that  I  ought,  first  of  all,  to  acknowledge  the  courtesy 
which  affords  me  the  opportunity  of  pleasantly  meeting  this 
evening  so  many  of  the  medical  fraternity.  I  hasten  to  follow 
this  by  the  expression  of  my  thanks  for  the  permission  to  say 
the  few  words  which  I  suppose  are  expected  of  me  thus  early 
in  the  speech-making  stage  of  this  entertainment.  I  recognize 
in  this  favor  the  utmost  kindness,  based,  I  have  no  doubt,  upon 


210        ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES. 

your  knowledge  of  physical  and  mental  conditions.  You  evi 
dently  know  as  well  as  I  do  that  of  all  congested,  distended 
and  flatulent  conditions,  the  worst  and  most  painful  arise  from 
the  combination  of  a  stomach  full  of  good  things  to  eat  and 
drink,  held  in  uncomfortable  solution  by  an  undigested 
speech. 

I  interpret  my  invitation  to  be  here  to-night  as  a  recogni 
tion  of  the  relationship  which  exists  between  the  professions  of 
medicine  and  law.  At  any  rate  I  am  quite  proud  in  the  as 
sumption  that  I  am  entitled,  in  a  fashion,  to  represent  the  law 
side  of  this  professional  reunion. 

There  are  many  things  which  we  have  in  common,  and  many 
points  where  we  diverge  in  our  professional  ways.  We,  with 
the  clergy,  enjoy  the  distinction  of  belonging  to  the  learned 
professions.  This  has  a  pleasant  sound  and  conveys  to  us  an 
idea  calculated  to  inspire  the  greatest  self-satisfaction  and  to 
fill  us  with  a  feeling  of  arrogant  superiority.  These  sentiments 
are,  however,  at  once  much  tempered,  or  are  destroyed,  by  the 
reflection  that  we  are  all  obliged  to  recognize  as  professional 
brethren  those  who  demonstrate  by  their  conduct  that  mere 
membership  in  our  brotherhoods  will  not,  of  itself,  raise  us 
above  the  ordinary  scale  of  morality,  or  exalt  us  above  the 
plane  of  everyday  human  nature.  Neither  you  nor  I  can  deny 
that  both  of  our  professions  have  at  this  moment  representa 
tives  not  engaged  in  active  practice,  but  resting  in  retirement 
and  seclusion  within  the  walls  of  certain  penal  institutions 
scattered  throughout  the  land.  And  I  will  concede,  if  you  will, 
that  there  are  others  now  at  large,  in  both  professions,  who  are 
entitled  to  the  same  retirement  and  seclusion. 

Perhaps,  in  passing,  I  might  also  say  with  bated  breath  that 
it  is  sometimes  broadly  hinted  that  even  the  clergy  occasion- 
ally  do  things  which  better  befit  the  unregenerate. 

I  do  not  indulge  in  these  reflections  for  the  sake  of  saying 
unpleasant  things,  but  rather  to  suggest  humility  and  modesty, 
and  to  introduce  the  declaration  that  I  am  prepared  now  and 
here  to  disavow  with  you  the  claim  of  any  special  goodness  or 


ADDRESSES  BE  POKE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES.       211 

greatness  for  our  profession,  except  such  as  grows  out  of  active 
sympathy  with  everything  which  helps  and  benefits  our  fellow- 
men,  and  except  such  as  result  from  a  conscientious  and  honest 
discharge  of  professional  duty. 

We  occupy  common  ground  in  the  similarity  of  the  treat 
ment  we  receive  at  the  hands  of  the  outside  world,  and  in  the 
opportunity  we  have  to  make  things  even  with  those  who  de- 
spitefully  use  us. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  very  funny  for  people  to  caricature 
doctors  as  playing  into  the  hands  of  undertakers,  and  to  rep 
resent  lawyers  as  being  on  such  good  terms  with  the  evil  one 
as  to  preclude  the  least  chance  of  their  salvation.  Those  who 
indulge  in  this  sort  of  merriment  are  well  people  and  peo 
ple  who  have  no  law  suits  on  hand.  They  grow  very  serious 
when  their  time  comes  and  they  grow  sick  or  are  caught  in  the 
meshes  of  the  law.  Then  they  are  very  respectful  and  very 
appreciative  of  our  skill  and  learning.  If  sick  they  would  fain 
have  the  doctor  by  their  side  day  and  night  ;  and  if  they  are 
troubled  with  a  law  suit  they  sit  like  Mordecai  at  the  lawyer's 
gate  and  are  unwilling  that  he  should  attend  to  any  business 
but  theirs.  They  are  re£idy  to  lay  their  fortunes  at  our  feet 
and  to  give  and  promise  all  things  if  they  can  but  recover  their 
health  or  win  their  suit.  These  are  the  days  in  which  the 
lawyer,  if  he  is  wise,  will  suggest  to  his  clients  the  payment  of 
a  round  retainer  or  a  fee  in  advance.  I  mention  this  as  indi 
cating  a  difference  at  this  time  in  our  situations  in  favor  of  the 
lawyer  which  gives  him  a  slight  advantage  over  his  medical 
brother. 

When  the  patient  recovers,  or  the  client  has  succeeded  in  his 
suit,  the  old  hardihood  and  impenitence  return.  The  patient 
insists  that  his  strong  constitution  carried  him  through,  and 
the  client  declares  that  he  always  knew  there  was  nothing  in 
the  case  of  his  adversary.  They  haggle  over  our  bills  and 
wonder  how  we  can  charge  so  much  for  so  little  work. 

But  sometimes  the  life  or  the  law  suit  cannot  be  saved.  In 
such  a  case  we  must  not  overlook  a  difference  in  our  situations, 


212        ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES. 

with  features  in  favor  of  the  doctor.  The  defeated  client  is 
left  in  a  vigorous  and  active  condition,  not  only  in  the  complete 
enjoyment  of  his  ancient  privilege  of  swearing  at  the  Court, 
but  also  with  full  capacity  to  swear  at  his  lawyer.  The  de 
feated  patient,  on  the  contrary,  is  very  quiet  indeed  and  can 
only  swear  at  his  doctor  if  he  has  left  his  profanity  in  a  phono 
graph  to  be  ground  out  by  his  executor. 

A  point  of  resemblance  between  us  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
in  neither  profession  do  we  manage  well  in  treating  our  own 
cases.  Doctors  solemnly  advise  their  patients  that  it  is  danger 
ous  to  eat  this  or  drink  that,  or  do  many  other  things  which 
make  existence  pleasant  ;  and  after  marking  out  a  course  for 
their  poor  patients  which,  if  followed,  robs  life  of  all  which 
makes  it  worth  living,  they  hasten  away  to  tempt  instant  death, 
according  to  their  own  teachings,  by  filling  themselves  with  all 
the  good  things  and  indulgence  within  the  reach  of  their  de 
sires.  So  the  lawyer,  safe  and  wise  when  he  counsels  others, 
deals  so  poorly  with  his  own  legal  affairs  as  to  have  originated 
the  saying  that  a  lawyer  who  tries  his  own  case  has  a  fool  for 
a  client  ;  and  it  seems  almost  impossible  f0r  a  lawyer  to  draw 
his  own  will  in  such  manner  as  not  to  yield  a  passage  through 
it  for  a  coach  and  four. 

Another  point  of  resemblance  between  the  two  professions 
consists  in  the  disposition  of  the  members  of  both  to  quarrel 
with  each  other.  I  am  bound  to  say,  however,  that  a  differ 
ence  is  to  be  noted  in  this  matter  in  favor  of  the  amiability  of 
the  Bar.  Our  quarrels  are  mostly  of  the  Pickwickian  sort  and 
strictly  in  the  line  of  business.  They  keep  us  in  fighting  trim 
and  serve  a  very  good  purpose  in  impressing  our  clients  with 
our  zeal  and  devotion  to  their  interest.  Our  asseveration  of 
the  rectitude  and  justice  of  their  side  of  the  cause  in  hand,  and 
our  demonstration  of  contempt  and  indignation  for  the  base 
less  pretenses  of  their  antagonist  and  for  that  prostitution  of 
professional  effort  which  advocates  such  pretenses,  is  a  part  of 
our  trade.  At  the  same  time  I  suppose  our  clients  would  suspect 
us  of  bad  faith  and  disloyalty  if  they  knew  how  temporary  and 


ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES.       213 

free  from  bitterness  our  quarrels  are.  Of  course,  I  personally 
know  but  little  of  the  quarrels  of  doctors,  except  that  they  are 
constant  and  well  sustained.  I  am  not  to  be  blamed,  however,  if 
I  share  in  the  common  belief  of  those  outside  of  the  profession, 
that  you  are  very  belligerent  and  quarrel  a  great  deal  for  the 
sake  of  quarreling.  You  seem  to  quarrel  in  squads,  in  sec 
tions,  in  schools  and  in  colleges.  You  certainly  have  not,  as 
we  have,  the  excuse  that  your  warfare  pleases  and  exhilarates 
your  patients  ;  for  neither  they  nor  anyone  else  know  what 
you  are  quarreling  about. 

It  is  extremely  pleasant  to  turn  from  these  things  to  the  ac 
knowledgment  of  certain  obligations  we,  as  lawyers,  often  owe 
to  the  medical  fraternity.  When,  burdened  with  a  troublesome 
case,  we  feel  that  the  facts  are  against  us  ;  when  we  languish  in 
the  chill  darkness  of  adverse  legal  principles  ;  and  when  dis 
couragement  broods  over  our  efforts,  if  we  can  bring  from  afar 
and  inject  into  our  cause  some  question  of  medical  science, 
our  drooping  law  suit  immediately  becomes  animated  and  in 
teresting,  for  we  know  that  whatever  our  theory  may  be  con 
cerning  this  medical  question,  we  shall  find  generous  and  con 
siderate  doctors  who  will  support  it.  Of  course  fully  as  many 
will  dispute  and  denounce  it ;  but  with  a  jury  in  the  box  who 
have  not  the  slightest  idea  of  what  the  doctors  are  talking 
about,  neither  litigant  need  feel  discouraged. 

You  are  not,  I  trust,  unprepared  for  the  distinct  expression  in 
conclusion,  that  nothing  is  more  noble  or  useful  than  worthy 
membership  in  our  professions.  In  both  are  found  that  culture 
and  enlightened  education  which  make  them  learned  profes 
sions;  and  in  both  are  found  that  dignity,  integrity,  and  devotion 
which  entitle  them  to  be  called  honorable  professions.  Our 
membership  should  lead  us  to  acknowledge  the  responsibili 
ties  to  our  fellow-men,  which  our  situations  impose,  and  our  ob 
ligation  to  our  country,  which  we  cannot  innocently  evade. 
May  I  not  suggest  that  our  entire  duty  is  not  done  if  we  never 
look  beyond  our  professional  routine,  and  if  we  limit  our  en 
deavor  to  strictly  professional  labor?  If  our  positions  give  us 


214       ADDRESSES  BEFORE  PROFESSIONAL  BODIES. 

influence,  that  influence  should  be  exerted  in  every  direction 
for  the  good  of  our  fellow-countrymen.  There  are  also  mala 
dies  and  evils  afflicting  the  body  politic  which  require  remedies 
and  corrections  ;  and  there  are  suits  to  be  tried  before  the 
tribunal  of  public  opinion  in  which  the  anxious  suitors  are  a 
free,  generous,  and  confiding  people. 


CHAPTER  X. 

ON    EDUCATIONAL    AND    PATRIOTIC    QUESTIONS. 
I. 

At  St.  Stephens  Hall,  Buffalo,  December  5,  1881. 

LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  DESIRE  to  acknowledge  the  honor  you  have  conferred  upon 
me  by  this  call  to  the  chair.  My  greatest  regret  is  that  I 
know  so  little  of  the  conditions  that  have  given  birth  to  the 
Land  League.  I  know,  in  a  general  way,  that  it  is  designed  to 
secure  to  Ireland  those  just  and  natural  rights  to  which  Irish 
men  are  entitled.  I  understand>  also,  that  these  are  to  be  ob 
tained  by  peaceful  measures  and  without  doing  violence  to 
any  just  law  of  the  land.  This  should  meet  with  the  support 
and  countenance  of  every  man  who  enjoys  the  privilege  of 
American  citizenship  and  lives  under  American  laws.  Our 
sympathy  is  drawn  out  by  a  bond  of  common  manhood.  We 
are  here  to-night  to  welcome  an  apostle  of  this  cause,  one  who 
can,  from  personal  experience,  recount  the  scenes  of  that 
troubled  isle  ;  who  can  tell  us  the  risks  that  are  taken  and  the 
pains  that  are  suffered  by  those  who  lead  the  van  in  this  great 
movement.  I  congratulate  you  upon  having  Father  Sheehy 
with  you,  and  I  will  not  delay  the  pleasure  of  his  presentation 
to  you.  

II. 

At  St.  James"  Hall,  Buffalo,  at  a  Mass  Meeting  to-  Protest 
Against  the  Treatment  of  American  Citizens  Imprisoned 
Abroad,  April  9,  1882. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

This  is  the  formal  mode  of  address  on  occasions  of  this 
kind,  but  I  think  we  seldom  realize  fully  its  meaning,  or  how 
valuable  a  thing  it  is  to  be  a  citizen. 

215 


2 1 6  ON  ED  UCA  7  70  AT  A  L 

From  the  earliest  civilization,  to  be  a  citizen  has  been  to  be 
a  free  man,  endowed  with  certain  privileges  and  advantages, 
and  entitled  to  the  full  protection  of  the  state.  The  defense 
and  protection  of  the  personal  rights  of  its  citizens  have  always 
been  the  paramount  and  most  important  duties  of  a  free,  en 
lightened  government. 

And  perhaps  no  government  has  this  sacred  trust  more  in  its 
keeping  than  this— the  best  and  freest  of  them  all ;  for  here 
the  people  who  are  to  be  protected  are  the  source  of  those 
powers  which  they  delegate  upon  the  express  compact  that 
the  citizen  shall  be  protected.  For  this  purpose  we  choose 
those  who,  for  the  time  being,  shall  manage  the  machinery 
which  we  have  set  up  for  our  defense  and  safety. 

And  this  protection  adheres  to  us  in  all  lands  and  places  as 
an  incident  of  citizenship.  Let  but  the  weight  of  a  sacri 
legious  hand  be  put  upon  this  sacred  thing,  and  a  great,  strong 
government  springs  to  its  feet  to  avenge  the  wrong.  Thus  it 
is  that  a  native-born  American  citizen  enjoys  his  birthright. 
But  when,  in  the  westward  march  of  empire,  this  nation  was 
founded  and  took  root,  we  beckoned  to  the  Old  World,  and 
invited  hither  its  immigration,  and  provided  a  mode  by  which 
those  who  sought  a  home  among  us  might  become  our  fellow- 
citizens.  They  came  by  thousands  and  hundreds  of  thousands; 
they  came  and 

Hewed  the  dark  old  woods  away, 
And  gave  the  virgin  fields  to  day  ; 

they  came  with  strong  sinews  and  brawny  arms  to  aid  in  the 
growth  and  progress  of  a  new  country  ;  they  came  and  upon 
our  altars  laid  their  fealty  and  submission  ;  they  came  to  our 
temples  of  justice,  and  under  the  solemnity  of  an  oath  re 
nounced  all  allegiance  to  every  other  state,  potentate,  and 
sovereignty,  and  surrendered  to  us  all  the  duty  pertaining  to 
such  allegiance.  We  have  accepted  their  fealty  and  invited 
them  to  surrender  the  protection  of  their  native  land. 

And   what   should  be  given  them  in    return  ?     Manifestly, 


AND  PA  TRIO  TIC  Q  UES  TIONS.  2 1 7 

good  faith  and  every  dictate  of  honor  demand  that  we  give 
them  the  same  liberty  and  protection  here  and  elsewhere 
which  we  vouchsafe  to  our  native-born  citizens.  And  that 
this  has  been  accorded  to  them  is  the  crowning  glory  of 
American  institutions. 

It  needed  not  the  statute,  which  is  now  the  law  of  the  land, 
declaring  that,  "  all  naturalized  citizens  while  in  foreign  lands, 
r.re  entitled  to  and  shall  receive  from  this  government  the 
same  protection  of  persons  and  property  which  is  accorded  to 
native-born  citizens,"  to  voice  the  policy  of  our  nation. 

In  all  lands  where  the  semblance  of  liberty  is  preserved,  the 
right  of  a  person  arrested  to  a  speedy  accusation  and  trial  is, 
or  ought  to  be,  a  fundamental  law,  as  it  is  a  rule  of  civilization. 

At  any  rate,  we  hold  it  to  be  so,  and  this  is  one  of  the  rights 
which  we  undertake  to  guarantee  to  any  native-born  or  natur 
alized  citizen  of  ours,  whether  he  be  imprisoned  by  order  of 
the  Czar  of  Russia  or  under  the  pretext  of  a  law  administered 
for  the  benefit  of  the  landed  aristocracy  of  England. 

We  do  not  claim  to  make  laws  for  other  countries;  but  we 
do  insist  that,  whatever  those  laws  may  be,  they  shall,  in  the 
interests  of  human  freedom  and  the  rights  of  mankind,  so  far 
as  they  involve  the  liberty  of  our  citizens,  be  speedily  admin 
istered.  We  have  a  right  to  say,  and  do  say,  that  mere  sus 
picion,  without  examination  or  trial,  is  not  sufficient  to  justify 
the  long  imprisonment  of  a  citizen  of  America.  Other  nations 
may  permit  their  citizens  to  be  thus  imprisoned.  Ours  will 
not.  And  this,  in  effect,  has  been  solemnly  declared  by 
statute. 

We  have  met  here  to-night  to  consider  this  subject,  and  to 
inquire  into  the  cause  and  the  reasons  and  the  justice  of  the 
imprisonment  of  certain  of  our  fellow-citizens  now  held  in 
British  prisons  without  the  semblance  of  a  trial  or  legal  exam 
ination.  Our  law  declares  that  the  government  shall  act  in 
such  cases.  But  the  people  are  the  creators  of  the  government. 
The  undaunted  apostle  of  the  Christian  religion,  imprisoned 
and  persecuted,  appealing,  centuries  ago,  to  the  Roman  law 


2  I  8  <9  yV  ED  UCA  TIONA  L 

and  the  rights  of  Roman  citizenship,  boldly  demanded  :  "  Is 
it  lawful  for  you  to  scourge  a  man  that  is  a  Roman,  and  un- 
condemned  ?" 


III. 
At  the  Albany  High  School,  Jtine  12,  1883. 

I  accepted  the  invitation  of  your  principal  to  visit  your 
school  this  morning  with  pleasure,  because  I  expected  to  see 
much  that  would  gratify  and  interest  me.  In  this  I  have  not 
been  disappointed  ;  but  I  must  confess  that  if  I  had  known 
that  my  visit  here  involved  my  attempting  to  address  you,  I 
should  have  hesitated,  and  quite  likely  have  declined  the  in 
vitation. 

I  hasten  to  assure  you  now  that  there  is  not  the  slightest 
danger  of  my  inflicting  a  speech  upon  you,  and  that  I  shall  do 
but  little  more  than  express  my  pleasure  in  the  proof  I  have  of 
the  excellence  of  the  methods  and  management  of  the  school, 
and  of  the  opportunities  which  those  who  attend  have  within 
their  reach  of  obtaining  a  superior  education. 

I  never  visit  a  school  in  these  days  without  contrasting  the 
advantages  of  the  scholar  of  to-day  with  those  of  a  time  not 
many  years  in  the  past.  Within  my  remembrance,  even,  the 
education  which  is  freely  offered  to  you  was  only  secured  by 
those  whose  parents  were  able  to  send  them  to  academies  and 
colleges.  And  thus,  when  you  entered  this  school,  very  many 
of  you  began  where  your  parents  left  off. 

The  theory  of  the  State,  in  furnishing  more  and  better  schools 
for  the  children,  is  that  it  tends  to  fit  them  to  perform  better 
their  duties  as  citizens,  and  that  an  educated  man  or  woman  is 
apt  to  be  more  useful  as  a  member  of  the  community. 

This  leads  to  the  thought  that  those  who  avail  themselves  of 
the  means  thus  tendered  them  are  in  duty  bound  to  make  such 
use  of  their  advantages  as  that  the  State  shall  receive,  in  return, 
the  educated  and  intelligent  citizens  and  members  of  the  com- 


AND  PA  TRIO  TIC  Q  UESTIONS.  *  1 9 

munity,  which  it  has  the  right  to  expect  from  its  schools.  You 
who  will  soon  be  the  men  of  the  day,  should  consider  that  you 
have  assumed  an  obligation  to  fit  yourselves  by  the  education, 
which  you  may,  if  you  will,  receive  in  this  school,  for  the 
proper  performance  of  any  duty  of  citizenship,  and  to  fill  any 
public  station  to  which  you  may  be  called.  And  it  seems  to 
me  to  be  none  the  less  important  that  those  who  are  to  be  the 
wives  and  mothers  should  be  educated,  refined,  and  intelligent. 
To  tell  the  truth,  I  should  be  afraid  to  trust  the  men,  educated 
though  they  should  be,  if  they  were  not  surrounded  by  pure 
and  true  womanhood.  Thus  it  is  that  you  all,  now  and  here, 
from  the  oldest  to  the  youngest,  owe  a  duty  to  the  State  which 
can  only  be  answered  by  diligent  study  and  the  ^eatest  possi 
ble  improvement.  It  is  too  often  the  case  that  in  all  walks 
and  places  the  disposition  is  to  render  the  least  possible  return 
to  the  State  for  the  favors  which  she  bestows. 

If  the  consideration  which  I  have  mentioned  fails  to  impress 
you,  let  me  remind  you  of  what  you  have  often  heard,  that  you 
owe  it  to  yourselves,  and  the  important  part  of  yourselves,  to 
seize,  while  you  may,  the  opportunities  to  improve  your  minds 
and  store  in  them,  for  your  own  future  use  and  advantage, 
the  learning  and  knowledge  now  fairly  within  your  reach. 

None  of  you  desires  or  expects  to  be  less  intelligent  or  edu 
cated  than  your  fellows.  But,  unless  the  notions  of  scholars 
have  changed,  there  may  be  those  among  you  who  think  that 
in  some  way  or  manner,  after  the  school  day  is  over,  there  will 
be  an  opportunity  to  regain  any  ground  now  lost,  and  to  com 
plete  an  education  without  a  present  devotion  to  school 
requirements.  I  am  sure  this  is  a  mistake.  A  moment's 
reflection  ought  to  convince  all  of  you  that  when  you  have 
once  entered  upon  the  stern,  uncompromising,  and  unrelenting 
duties  of  mature  life,  there  will  be  no  time  for  study.  You 
will  have  a  contest  then  forced  upon  you  which  will  strain 
every  nerve  and  engross  every  faculty.  A  good  education,  if 
you  have  it,  will  aid  you,  but  if  you  are  without  it  you  cannot 
stop  to  acquire  it.  When  you  leave  the  school  you  are  well 


ON  EDUCA  TIONAL 

equipped  for  the  van  in  the  army  of  life,  or  you  are  doomed  to 
be  a  laggard,  aimlessly  and  listlessly  following  in  the  rear. 

Perhaps  a  reference  to  truths  so  trite  is  useless  here.  I  hope 
it  is.  But  I  have  not  been  able  to  forego  the  chance  to  assure 
those  who  are  hard  at  work  that  they  will  surely  see  their 
compensation,  and  those,  if  any  such  there  are,  who  find  school 
duties  irksome,  arid  neglect  or  slightingly  perform1  them,  that 
they  are  trifling  with  serious  things  and  treading  on  dangerous 
ground. 


IV. 

At  the  Annual  Saengerfest  in  Buffalo,  July  16,  1883. 

I  have  come  to  join  my  fellow-townsmen  and  their  visitors 
in  the  exercises  which  inaugurate  a  festival  of  music  and  of 
song,  and  a  season  of  social  enjoyments. 

It  may  be  safely  said,  I  think,  that  no  one  who  has  called 
this  his  home,  who  has  enjoyed  a  residence  in  this  beauti 
ful  city,  and  has  learned  the  kindness  of  its  people,  ever 
forgets  these  things,  or  fails  to  experience  a  satisfaction  in 
whatever  adds  to  the  prestige  of  the  city  and  the  pride  and 
enjoyment  of  its  inhabitants. 

And  thus  it  is  that  I  am  here  to-night,  at  my  home,  claiming, 
as  an  old  citizen  of  Buffalo,  my  full  share  of  the  pleasure 
which  Buffalonians  appropriate  to  themselves  on  this  occasion. 

I  am  glad  that  our  State  has  within  its  borders  a  city  con 
taining  sufficient  German  enterprise,  and  enough  of  the  Ger 
man  love  of  music,  to  secure  to  itself  the  honor  and  distinction 
of  being  selected  as  the  place  where  this  national  festival  is 
held. 

I  desire  to  feel  free,  to-night,  from  official  responsibilities 
and  restraint,  and,  as  a  private  citizen,  to  join  in  welcoming 
our  guests  to  my  home  ;  but  I  will  not  forbear,  as  the  Executive 
of  the  great  State  of  New  York,  and  on  behalf  of  all  its  people, 


AND  PA  TKIOTIC  QUESTIONS.  22* 

to  extend  to  those  here  assembled  from  other  States  a  hearty 

greeting. 

At  this  moment  the  reflection  is  uppermost  in  my  mind  that 
we  owe  much  to  the  German  element  among  our  people. 
Their  thrift  and  industry  have  added  immensely  to  our  growth 
and  prosperity.  The  sad  and  solemn  victims  of  American 
overwork  may  learn  of  them  that  labor  may  be  well  done  and 
at  the  same  time  that  recreation  and  social  enjoyment  have  their 
place  in  a  busy  life.  They  have  also  brought  to  us  their  music 
and  their  song,  which  have  done  much  to  elevate,  refine,  and 
improve,  and  to  demonstrate  that  nature's  language  is  as  sweet 
as  when  the  morning  stars  sang  together. 

I  am  inclined  to  think  that  a  music-loving  people  are  not 
apt  to  be  a  bad  people  ;  and  it  may  well  be  hoped  that  occa 
sions  like  this  will  tend  to  make  the  love  and  cultivation  of 
music  more  universal  in  our  land. 

We  hear,  sometimes,  of  the  assimilation  of  the  people  of 
different  nationalities,  who  have  made  their  home  upon  Amer 
ican  soil.  As  this  process  goes  on,  let  the  German's  love  of 
music  be  carefully  included,  to  the  end  that  the  best  elements 
of  human  nature  may  be  improved  and  cultivated,  and  Amer 
ican  life  be  made  more  joyous  and  happy. 

I  must  not  detain  you  longer  ;  better  things  await  you. 
To  the  stranger  guest,  I  pledge  a  cordial  hospitality  at  the 
hands  of   the   Germans   of   Buffalo.     I   know  the  warmth   of 
heart  and  the  kindliness  of  disposition  of  those  having  you  in 
charge,  and  no  other  guarantee  is  needed. 

To  my  fellow-townsmen,  who  have  labored  thus  far  so  faith 
fully  in  preparation  for  this  occasion,  I  cannot  forbear  saying 
that  your  most  difficult  and  delicate  work  will  not  be  done  until 
your  guests  depart  declaring  the  twenty-third  the  most  suc 
cessful  and  enjoyable  Saengerfest  upon  the  list,  and  confessing 
that  the  most  cordial  and  hospitable  entertainers  are  the  Ger 
mans  of  Buffalo. 


ON  EDUCATIONAL 


V. 

Accepting  the  Bartholdi  Statue,  October  28,  1886. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  accept  with  gratitude  from 
their  brethren  of  the  French  Republic  the  grand  and  com 
pleted  work  of  art  we  here  inaugurate. 

This  token  of  the  affection  and  consideration  of  the  people 
France  demonstrates  the  kinship  of  republics,  and  conveys 
to  us  the  assurance  that  in  our  efforts  to  commend  to  man 
kind  the  excellence  of  a  government  resting  upon  popular 
will,  we  still  have  beyond  the  American  continent  a  steadfast 
ally. 

We  are  not  here  to-day  to  bow  before, the  representation  of 
a  fierce  and  warlike  god,  filled  with  wrath  and  vengeance  but 
we  joyously  contemplate  instead  our  own  deity  keeping  watch 
and  ward  before  the  open  gates  of  America,  and  greater  than 
that  have  been  celebrated  in  ancient  song.  Instead  of 
grasping  in  her  hand  thunderbolts  of  terror  and  of  death  she 
holds  aloft  the  light  which  illumines  the  way  to  man's  enfran 
chisement. 

We  will  not  forget  that  Liberty  has  here  made  her  home  ; 
nor  shall  her  chosen  altar  be  neglected.  Willing  votaries  will 
constantly  keep  alive  its  fires,  and  these  shall  gleam  upon  the 
shores  of  our  sister  republic  in  the  east.  Reflected  thence  and 
joined  with  answering  rays,  a  stream  of  light  shall  pierce  the 
darkness  of  ignorance  and  man's  oppression,  until  Liberty 
enlightens  the  world. 

VI. 

At    the  Unveiling  of    the   Garfield  Statue,   Washington, 

May  12,  1887. 
FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

In  performance  of  the  duty  assigned  to  me  on  this  occasion, 
[  hereby  accept,  on  behalf  of  the  people  of  the  United  States, 
this  completed  and  beautiful  statue. 


AND  PATRIOTIC  QUESTIONS.  223 

Amid  the  interchange  of  fraternal  greetings  between  the 
survivors  of  the  Army  of  the  Cumberland  and  their  former 
foes  upon  the  battlefield,  and  while  the  Union  General  and 
the  people's  President  awaited  burial,  the  common  grief  of 
these  magnanimous  soldiers  and  mourning  citizens  found  ex 
pression  in  the  determination  to  erect  this  tribute  to  American 
greatness  ;  and  thus,  to-day,  in  its  symmetry  and  beauty,  it 
presents  a  sign  of  animosities  forgotten,  an  emblem  of  a 
brotherhood  redeemed,  and  a  token  of  a  nation  restored. 

Monuments  and  statues  multiply  throughout  the  land,  fit 
tingly  illustrative  of  the  love  and  affection  of  our  grateful 
people  and  commemorating  brave  and  patriotic  sacrifices  in 
war,  fame  in  peaceful  pursuits,  or  honor  in  public  station. 

But  from  this  day  forth  there  shall  stand  at  our  seat  of 
government  this  statue  of  a  distinguished  citizen  who,  in  his 
life  and  services,  combined  all  these  things  and  more,  which 
challenge  admiration  in  American  character — loving  tender 
ness  in  every  domestic  relation,  bravery  on  the  field  of  battle, 
fame  and  distinction  in  our  halls  of  legislation,  and  the  highest 
honor  and  dignity  in  the  Chief  Magistracy  of  the  nation. 

This  stately  effigy  shall  not  fail  to  teach  every  beholder  that 
the  source  of  American  greatness  is  confined  to  no  condition, 
nor  dependent  alone  for  its  growth  and  development  upon 
favorable  surroundings.  The  genius  of  our  national  life 
beckons  to  usefulness  and  honor  those  in  every  sphere,  and 
offers  the  highest  preferment  to  manly  ambition  and  sturdy 
honest  effort,  chastened  and  consecrated  by  patriotic  hopes  and 
aspirations.  As  long  as  this  statue  stands,  let  it  be  proudly 
remembered  that  to  every  American  citizen  the  way  is  open 
to  fame  and  station,  until  he 

Moving  up  from  high  to  higher, 
Becomes  on  Fortune's  crowning  slope 
The  pillar  of  a  people's  hope, 
The  center  of  a  World's  desire. 

Nor  can  we  forget  that  it  also  teaches  our  people  a  sad  and 
distressing  lesson  ;  and  the  thoughtful  citizen  who  views  its 


224  ON  EDUCA  TIONAL 

fair  proportions  cannot  fail  to  recall  the  tragedy  of  a  death 

which  brought  grief  and  mourning  to  every  household  in  the 

But,  while   American    citizenship    stands   aghast   and 

nghted  that  murder  and  assassination  should   lurk  in  the 

midst  of  a  free  people  and  strike  down  the    head    of    their 

government,  a  fearless  search  and  the  discovery  of  the  ori-in 

and  h,dmg  place  of  these  hateful  and  unnatural  things  should 

followed  by  a  solemn  resolve  to  purge  forever  from  our 

political  methods  and  from  the  operation  of  our  government 

the  perversions  and  misconceptions  which   gave  birth  to  pas' 

sionate  and  bloody  thoughts. 

If,  from  this  hour,  our  admiration  for  the  bravery  and  nobil 
ity  of  American  manhood,  and  our  faith  in  the  possibilities  and 
opportunities  of  American  citizenship  be  renewed;  if  our  ap 
preciation  of  the  blessing  of  a  restored  Union  and  love  for  our 
government  be  strengthened,  and  if  our  watchfulness  against 
the  dangers  of  a  mad  chase  after  partisan  spoils  be  quickened 
the  dedication  of  this  statue  to  the  people  of  the  United  States 
will  not  be  in  vain. 


VII. 

At  the  Banquet  of  the   Hibernian   Society,  Philadelphia, 
September  17,   1887. 

I  should  hardly  think  my  participation  in  the  centennial 
celebration  was  satisfactory  if  I  had  not  the  opportunity  of 
meeting  the  representative  of  the  society  which,  through  its 
antiquity  and  associations,  bears  close  relations  on  the  events 
of  the  time  we  commemorate.  That  you  celebrate  this  occa 
sion  is  a  reminder  of  the  fact  that  in  the  troublous  and 
perilous  days  of  our  country  those  whose  names  stood  upon 
your  roll  of  membership  fought  for  the  cause  of  free  govern 
ment  and  for  the  homes  which  they  had  found  upon  our  soil. 

No  society  or  corporation,  I  am  sure,  has  in  its  charter,  or 
in  its  traditions  and  history,  a  better  or  more  valuable  certifi- 


A ND  PA  7  'RIO  TIC  Q  UES TIONS.  225 

cate  of  its  patriotic  worth  and  character  than  you  have,  and 
which  is  found  in  the  words  of  Washington,  who,  in  1782,  de 
clared  of  the  Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  of  which  this  asso 
ciation  is  the  successor,  that  it  "  has  always  been  noted  for  the 
firm  adherence  of  its  members  to  the  glorious  cause  in  which 
we  are  engaged."  These  are  priceless  words,  and  they  render 
most  fitting  the  part  which  the  members  of  the  Hibernian  So 
ciety  are  to-day  assuming. 

I  noticed  upon  a  letter  which  I  have  received  from  your 
secretary  that  one  object  of  your  society  is  stated  to  be  "  for 
the  relief  of  emigrants  from  Ireland,"  and  this  leads  me  to 
reflect  how  nearly  allied  love  of  country  is  to  a  kindly  human 
ity,  and  how  naturally  such  a  benevolent  purpose  of  this  soci 
ety,  as  the  assistance  and  relief  of  your  stranger  and  needy 
emigrants,  follows  the  patriotism  in  which  it  had  its  origin. 

Long  may  the  Hibernian  Society  live  and  prosper,  and  long 
may  its  benevolent  and  humane  work  be  prosecuted.  And 
when  another  centennial  of  the  Constitution  is  celebrated,  may 
those  who  shall  then  form  its  membership  be  as  fully  inspired 
with  the  patriotism  of  its  history  and  traditions,  and  as  ready 
to  join  in  the  general  felicitation,  as  the  men  1  see  about  me 
here. 


VIII. 

At  the  Fdlowcraft  Club,  New  York,  May  14,  1889. 

MR.   PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  think  I  should  be  glad  to  depart  to-night  from  what  I  sup 
pose  to  be  the  custom  here,  and  say  a  few  words  to  you  with 
out  the  least  reference  to  the  occupations  in  which  I  under 
stand  the  members  of  this  club  are  principally  engaged,  and 
without  speaking  of  the  newspapers  and  those  who  make  and 
manage  them.  But  I  do  not  see  how  I  am  to  accomplish  these 
things,  because,  in  the  first  place,  the  atmosphere  is  against  me, 
and  in  the  second  place,  the  newspaper  press  and  what  it  docs 


2  26  ON  El)  UCA  770 N A L 

are  so  interwoven  with  our  life  that  they  can  hardly  be  elimi 
nated  from  the  discussion  of  any  subject. 

I  want  to  speak  of  American  citizenship  ;  and  I  am  prompted 
at  the  outset  to  say  that  I  cannot  see  why,  among  those  who 
have  to  do  with  the  newspaper  press,  all  things  that  pertain  to 
good  citizenship  should  not  have  the  highest  place  ;  and 
that  I  never  could  discover  why  those  connected  with  news 
papers  should  not  be  judged  by  the  same  rules  as  are  applied 
to  the  rest  of  us,  nor  why  they  are  not  charged  with  cer 
tainly  as  serious  duties  and  responsibilities  as  other  citizens. 
I  protest  against  the  theory,  which  appears  to  have  gained 
some  headway  in  certain  quarters,  that  they  are  a  little  outside 
of  the  mass  of  ordinary  citizens  ;  and  in  their  defense  and  vin 
dication,  1  deny  the  proposition  that  they  deliberately  acknowl 
edge  fealty  and  devotion  to  their  newspapers  first  and  to  their 
country  afterward.  Of  course,  if  crowded,  I  should  be 
obliged  to  confess  that,  in  my  opinion,  there  are  exceptions,  and 
that,  occasionally,  there  are  found  among  the  editors  and  man 
agers  of  newspapers,  as  everywhere  else,  those  whose  personal 
resentments,  or  extreme  and  misguided  partisanship,  lead  them 
to  pitiable  conclusions  ;  but  against  these  I  put  the  great 
number  who,  day  by  day,  labor  to  make  our  country  better  and 
on i-  people  more  thoughtful  and  intelligent. 

The  warmth  of  my  desire  to  see  good  American  citizenship 
more  prevalent,  and  the  value  of  it  better  appreciated  by  our 
people,  arises  in  a  great  degree,  I  suppose,  from  my  recent  ex 
perience  in  discharging  the  duties  of  an  office  which  afforded 
an  opportunity  of  observing  the  motive  power  and  strength  of 
selfish  interests  in  governmental  affairs  ;  and  in  comparison, 
how  weak,  if  judged  by  their  accomplishments,  are  disinter 
ested  love  of  country  and  dutiful  solicitude  for  the  public 
good. 

Ours  is  not  a  government  which  operates  well  by  its  own 
momentum.  It  is  so  constructed  that  it  will  only  yield  its  best 
results  when  it  feels  the  constant  pressure  of  the  hands  of  the 
people.  This  condition  suggests  the  importance  of  patriotism 


AND  PATRIOTIC  QUESTIONS.  227 

and  devotion  to  the  general  and  public  welfare  in  all  branches 
of  the  government.  But  this  is  impossible  if  the  representa 
tives  of  the  people  in  the  State  or  nation  look  no  higher  than 
the  promotion  of  personal  benefit,  or  the  local  interests  of 
their  immediate  constituents,  or  the  accomplishment  of  some 
purpose  in  aid  of  their  own  retention  in  place.  The  man  who 
enters  upon  a  legislative  career,  having  charged  himself  espe- 
C'ally  or  exclusively  with  the  passage  of  measures  in  which  he 
or  his  personal  supporters  are  alone  interested,  or  with  the 
success  of  some  private  enterprise,  is  apt  to  be  false  to  himself 
and  untrue  to  his  trust.  His  mind  is  preoccupied  to  such  an 
extent,  and  his  selfish  purposes  assume  such  large  proportions 
in  his  sight,  that  a  scheme  for  a  new  public  building  for  his 
town  or  district,  or  for  a  bridge  across  a  river,  or  for  the  right 
of  way  for  a  railroad,  or  for  the  allowance  of  a  claim  against 
the  government,  crowds  out  all  consideration  on  his  part  of 
great  and  broad  general  subjects.  Thus  he  furnishes  no  in 
telligent  aid  in  legislation  for  the  public  good,  and  it  is  for 
tunate  for  the  people  if  he  does  not  deliver  questionable  votes 
in  exchange  for  like  favors  in  behalf  of  his  pet  scheme  or 
schemes. 

I  do  not  indulge  in  the  statement  of  an  imaginary  case. 
And  what  I  have  thus  presented  is  but  an  illustration  of  the 
perversions  that  are  creeping  into  every  branch  of  our  public 
service.  Thoughtful  men  will  not  deny  that  danger  lurks  in 
the  growing  tendency  of  to-day  to  regard  public  office  as 
something  which  may  be  sought  and  administered  for  private 
ends,  instead  of  being  received  and  held  as  a  public  trust. 

Now  I  plead  for  the  cultivation  of  a  sentiment  among  the 
people  which  will  condemn  this  conduct  and  these  ideas,  and 
which  will  impress  upon  those  who  act  for  and  represent  us  in 
every  official  capacity  the  truth  that  their  duty  is  only  per 
formed  by  activity  for  the  public  good  and  by  the  utmost  care 
that  the  spirit  of  our  institutions  suffers  no  impairment. 

As  a  stream  will  not  rise  above  its  source,  so  it  is  manifest 
that,  to  reach  this  better  condition,  selfishness  and  listlessness 


228  ON  EDUCATIONAL 

among  the  people  themselves  must  give  way  to  a  sincere  and 
earnest  desire  for  the  preservation  and  increase  of  that  senti 
ment  of  true  American  citizenship  which  recognizes  in  the 
advancement  of  the  entire  country  something  more  to  be 
desired  than  the  direct  and  immediate  attainment  of  purely 
private  ends. 

Here  is  a  field  in  which  all  can  labor  and  find  plenty  to  do. 
Those  active  in  the  work  will  have  their  love  of  country 
enlivened,  and  they  will  not  fail  to  receive  encouraging  re 
sponse  to  their  efforts. 

It  will  be  a  mistake  for  us  to  relax  effort  because  we  cannot 
reach  the  highest  point  of  useful  activity,  or  because  we  may 
not  be  able  to  deal  directly  with  evils  in  the  highest  places. 
A  good  beginning  is  made  when  communities  and  individuals 
are  led  to  appreciate  properly  the  value  of  public  spirit  and 
unselfishness  in  matters  connected  with  their  home  affairs  and 
with  the  interest  of  their  neighborhoods.  The  men  who  have 
learned  the  lesson  of  good  citizenship,  as  related  to  the  con 
cerns  of  the  school  district,  the  village,  or  the  city,  will  soon 
strive  effectively  to  impress  that  lesson  upon  those  who  have 
to  do  with  the  concerns  of  the  State  and  of  the  nation. 

I  am  sure  that  we  can  none  of  us  confidently  say  that  even 
here,  in  this  grand  and  busy  city,  there  is  no  room  for  an 
increase  of  public  spirit,  or  that  too  much  attention  is  paid  to 
the  cultivation  of  American  citizenship.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  we  are  behind  in  these  things,  but  intend  merely  to  inti 
mate  that  we  should  as  far  excel  in  this  direction  as  we  do  in 
every  other. 

Nor  is  there  the  least  danger  that  we  shall  have  among  us 
too  many  reminders  that  our  city  is  something  more  than  a 
swift-running  mill  which  grinds  the  grists  of  fortune,  and  that 
we  have  in  our  history  and  traditions  things  well  worthy  of 
commemoration  in  palpable  and  lasting  form.  Thus  the  proj 
ect  now  on  ""foot  to  build  in  an  appropriate  location  a  per 
manent  and  beautiful  arch,  to  replace  a  temporary  one  which 
added  so  much  to  our  splendid  Centennial  display,  should  not 


AND  PATRIOTIC  QUESTIONS.  229 

be  allowed  to  miscarry.  Such  a  structure  will  lead  the  minds 
of  our  citizens  away  from  sordid  things,  and  will  suggest  to 
them  not  only  the  impressive  thoughts  connected  with  our 
first  President's  inauguration,  but  will  constantly  remind  them 
how  grandly  the  event  was  celebrated  in  this  city  one  hundred 
years  afterward.  By  such  means  is  public  spirit  fostered,  and 
the  way  opened  for  a  wider  prevalence  of  good  citizenship  in 
its  highest  and  broadest  sense. 

Let  us,  on  the  threshold  of  a  new  century,  charged  as  we  are 
with  the  maintenance,  in  our  day  and  generation,  of  the  integ 
rity  of  our  government,  pledge  ourselves  to  labor,  each  in  his 
own  sphere,  for  the  revival  of  pure  and  simple  patriotism  and 
for  the  increase  of  that  unselfish  love  of  our  entire  country  in 
which  our  safety  lies. 

And  now  I  cannot  refrain  from  suggesting  as  a  closing 
thought  that  the  responsibility  of  men  like  those  who  consti 
tute  the  membership  of  this  club,  in  every  part  and  every 
phase  a  movement  in  the  direction  of  public  spirit  and  good 
citizenship,  is  made  apparent  when  it  is  conceded  that  no 
agency  can  accomplish  more  in  the  cause  than  a  free,  coura 
geous,  and  patriotic  press. 


IX. 

At  the  Cornell  Alumni  Society  Meeting,  December  21,  1889. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  am  confident  that  however  well  a  man  may  think  he  has 
computed  the  factors  which  fix  his  status  among  his  fellows, 
and  however  closely  he  may  have  inventoried  his  social  assets 
and  the  claims  he  may  hold  to  dignity  and  consideration,  an 
item  is  quite  likely  now  and  then  to  escape  his  scrutiny.  As 
a  result  he  is  liable  to  awaken  some  morning  and  find  himself, 
if  not  famous,  at  least  entitled  to  some  distinction  or  consider 
ation  which  had  not  before  entered  into  his  calculation. 

If  T  am   not  the  inventor  of  this  weighty  proposition  I  may 


23°  ON  EDUCA  TIONAL 

safely  claim  to  be  a  striking  and  convincing  illustration  of  its 
truth. 

When  a  committee  having  the  arrangements  for  this  occasion 
in  charge  came  to  me  with  an  invitation  to  be  present,  I  listened 
to  their  proposition  with  that  placid  fortitude  which  one 
acquires  in  encounters  with  those  anxious  to  demonstrate 
their  unselfish  patriotism  by  accepting  office  in  the  Federal 
service.  I  confess  that  the  impressive  representation  made  by 
the  committee  of  the  importance  of  the  occasion,  which  in  these 
clays  I  hear  so  often,  had  little  or  no  effect  upon  me,  and  that 
the  thought  I  was  giving  to  the  subject  was  solely  directed  to 
determining  the  manner  in  which  I  might  most  courteously 
announce  my  declination.  At  this  juncture  one  of  my  visitors 
mentioned  the  fact  that  I  had  been  the  only  Governor  of  the 
State  of  New  York,  who,  during  his  incumbency,  had  attended 
a  meeting  of  the  Trustees  of  Cornell  University  as  ex  officio 
a  member  of  that  body. 

This  was  an  entirely  unexpected  announcement.  I  need 
hardly  say  that  conditions  changed  in  an  instant,  when  I  under 
stood  that  I  had  done  an  important  thing,  entirely  proper 
and  creditable,  which  my  gubernatorial  predecessors  had  not 
done.  Somewhat  puffed  up  by  this  newly  found  superiority, 
and  by  the  additional  importance  which  I  imagined  it  gave 
me,  I  was  ready  to  acknowledge  the  character  of  the  obligation 
which  was  imposed  by  my  relations  thus  established  to  an  im 
portant  institution  of  learning,  and  the  duty  I  owed  to  those 
who  ate  and  drank  in  its  honor. 

So  I  came  here  to  insist  upon  a  proper  recognition  of  my 
kinship  to  you  all,  and,  I  fear,  with  some  idea  of  exploiting,  in 
rather  a  patronizing  way,  my  importance  in  that  relationship.' 

But  I  am  entirely  cured  of  all  this  ;  for  when  I  see  here  the 
alumni  of  Cornell  and  others  connected  with  her,  and  when  I 
recall  the  pride  which  the  people  of  New  York  have  in  her 
success  and  Achievements,  and  when  I  remember  the  interest 
and  inspiration  aroused  by  my  visit  to  her  home  more  than  six 
years  ago,  I  am  quite  willing  to  rest  the  satisfaction  I  exper- 


A ND  PA  TRIO  TIC  Q  UESTIONS.  2 3 1 

ience  from  the  privilege  of  being  with  "you  to-night,  upon 
the  interest  which  every  citizen  of  our  country  and  our  State 
ought  to  feel  in  an  institution  which  has  done  so  much,  and 
which  promises  so  much  for  the  instruction  and  improvement 
of  the  people  of  the  nation  and  the  State. 

As  I  speak  of  the  nation  in  its  relation  to  your  university, 
I  at  once  encounter  a  thing  which  seems  not  only  to  underlie 
the  establishment  of  the  institution,  but  which  presents  a  feature 
full  of  gratification  and  congratulation.  In  the  grant  of  aid 
made  by  the  general  government,  which  did  so  much  toward 
the  founding  of  the  university,  I  find  it  provided  that  the  institu 
tions  which  sought  the  benefit  of  its  benefaction  must  "  teach 
such  branches  of  learning  as  are  related  to  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  arts,  in  order  to  promote  the  liberal  and  practical 
education  of  the  industrial  classes  in  the  several  pursuits  and 
professions  in  life." 

When  we  consider  the  relations  of  the  State  to  the  university, 
we  find  the  charter  giving  her  a  corporate  existence  upon  the 
same  condition  contained  in  the  Federal  grant.  We  find,  too, 
that  the  State  guided  in  her  direction  the  benefits  of  that 
grant,  and  at  the  same  time  permitted  her  to  extend,  to  addi 
tional  branches  of  science  and  learning,  her  plan  of  instruction. 
Nor  should  we  overlook  the  fact  that  in  her  charter  the  State  re 
quired  her  several  departments  of  study  to  be  open  to  applicants 
for  admission  at  the  lowest  rate  of  expense  consistent  with 
her  welfare  and  efficiency,  and  without  distinction  as  to  rank, 
class,  previous  occupation,  or  locality. 

To  my  mind  these  things  mean  a  great  deal.  They  mean 
that  both  the  nation  and  the  State  deemed  the  instruction  of  the 
people  in  agriculture  and  the  mechanical  arts  as  a  fit  subject 
for  governmental  care.  This  seems  natural  enough  when  we 
consider  the  broad  area  of  our  country,  with  its  variety  of 
soil  and  climate,  waiting  the  magic  transformation  of  agricul 
ture,  and  when  we  remember  that  the  American  people  sur 
pass  all  others  in  ingenuity  and  mechanical  faculty.  They 
mean,  too,  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  good  of  the 


23 2  ON  ED UCA  TIONAL 

nation  and  the  State  is  subserved  by  the  education  of  all  the 
people  without  distinction  of  rank  or  class,  thus  keeping  in 
view  the  principle,  upon  which  our  institutions  rest,  that  the 
people  are  the  rulers  of  the  land,  and  that  their  intelligence 
and  education  are  the  surest  safeguards  of  our  perpetuity, 
our  prosperity,  and  our  progress.  They  mean,  also,  that  our 
nation  and  our  State  have  made  an  offer  of  educational 
facilities  and  have  exacted  from  their  beneficiaries  a  compen 
sating  return  of  good  citizenship. 

These  thoughts  immediately  suggest  that  those  who  close 
with  this  offer  and  accept  its  benefits  incur  an  obligation  to 
the  nation  and  State  which  cannot  be  avoided  or  compromised. 
It  is  an  obligation  to  realize  thoughtfully  and  carefully  the 
trust  they  hold  as  citizens,  to  interest  themselves  in  public 
questions  and  to  discharge  their  political  duties  with  a  patriotic 
intent  and  purpose  of  securing  and  protecting  the  welfare  of 
their  entire  country.  No  man  has  a  right  to  be  heedless  and 
listless  under  the  responsibility  he  bears  as  an  American 
citizen.  An  educated  man  has  certainly  no  excuse  for  indiffer 
ence  ;  and  most  of  all,  the  man  is  derelict  to  his  obligation 
who  calls  your  university  his  Alma  Mater  and  yet  fails  to  dis 
charge  his  full  duty  of  citizenship.  His  graduation  is  proof 
that  he  has  worthily  earned  the  honors  which  your  university 
can  bestow  ;  but,  wherever  he  may  go  and  whatever  may  be 
his  way  of  life,  his  diploma  is  evidence  that  he  owes  service 
to  the  nation. 

Of  this  service  he  should  at  all  times  be  proud.  He  is  every 
where,  if  he  is  true  to  his  duty,  in  the  ranks  of  those  who  are 
engaged  in  the  noble  work  of  aiding  to  reach  its  grand  and 
ultimate  destiny,  the  best  and  freest  nation  the  world  has 
ever  seen.  If  he  retains  his  allegiance  to  the  Empire  State  of 
New  York,  his  pride  should  be  enhanced;  because,  if  he  is 
faithful  to  his  pledge,  he  is  striving  to  advance  the  interest  of 
the  greatest  commonwealth  which  the  government  of  the 
United  States  numbers  among  its  jewels. 

Thus  in  the  nation  and   in  the  State  he  wears  the  badge  of 


AND  PATRIOTIC  QUESTIONS.  ^33 

his  obligation  to  good  citizenship  placed  upon  him  within  the 
walls  of  Cornell  University.  Happy  and  dutiful  are  her 
graduates,  if,  for  the  welfare  of  their  country,  for  the  honor  of 
their  university,  and  for  the  vindication  of  their  own  rectitude 
and  good  faith  they  respond  patriotically  to  this  obligation. 

Concerning  the  debt  of  affection  due  from  you  to  the  uni 
versity  herself,  I  hardly  need  say,  in  this  company,  that  all  the 
alumni  of  Cornell,  wherever  in  this  broad  land  they  may  be, 
should  love  and  revere  their  Alma  Mater,  beneath  whose 
sheltering  roof  they  have  been  fitted  for  usefulness  and 
well  equipped  for  the  conflict  of  life.  Their  loyalty  to  her 
should  never  fail,  and  when  the  student  life  of  their  sons  makes 
their  fathers'  names  again  familiar  in  the  old  university  and 
upon  her  rolls,  the  sons  should  come  to  her  halls  laden  with 
a  father's  devotion  to  her  welfare,  and  they  should  be  spurred 
to  their  best  endeavor  by  a  father's  appreciation  of  her  bene 
fits  and  advantages. 

Let  me,  in  closing,  leave  the  alumni  of  Cornell  University 
the  thought  that  they  cannot  honor  their  Alma  Mater  more, 
nor  illustrate  her  value  and  usefulness  better,  than  by  keep 
ing  alive  and  active  at  all  times  a  sober  apprehension  of  the 
duty  they  owe  to  "  the  Nation,  the  State,  and  the  University." 


X. 

At  a    Meeting   to   Demand    New   Legislation    Concerning    the 
Adirondack  Park,  New    York,  January   24,  1891. 

MR.  PRESIDENT,  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  rise  to  say  a  word  in  support  of  the  resolutions  that  have 
been  read.  I  have  come  here  to  be  instructed  as  to  the  pro 
gress  that  has  been  made  in  a  cause  to  which  a  few  years  ago, 
as  Governor  of  your  State,  I  gave  considerable  attention,  and 
to  testify  to  my  continued  interest  in  forest  preservation. 
When,  as  Governor,  this  subject  was  brought  to  my  mind,  I 
gave  it  careful  study,  and  I  was  thoroughly  satisfied  that  the 


2  3  4  ON  ED  UCA  TIONA  L 

destruction  of  the  Adirondack  forests  was  jeopardizing  our 
rivers  as  means  of  transportation,  and  that  their  preservation 
was  essential  to  the  health  and  comfort  of  future  generations. 

It  is  a  most  important  matter,  worthy  the  attention  of  all. 
Therefore  it  was  that  I  recommended  to  the  legislators  of 
the  State  the  passage  of  measures  calculated  to  prohibit  the 
further  sale  of  forest  lands  in  the  possession  of  the  State,  and 
that  such  lands  as  we  had,  together  with  such  as  should  come 
into  our  hands  for  the  non-payment  of  taxes,  should  be  pre 
served  for  a  park.  Something  of  that  sort  was  done  or  at- 
tempted  through  an  act  providing  for  a  forest  commission, 
but  the  necessary  amount  of  public  feeling  could  not  then  be 
aroused  to  accomplish  much. 

I  have  listened  with  a  great  deal  of  interest  to  the  sugges 
tions  which  have  been  made  here.  To  my  conservative  mind 
many  of  them  seem  radical.  I  have  had  the  same  advan 
tages  of  observation  as  some  of  the  previous  speakers.  I 
am  an  Adirondacker.  I  go  to  the  Adirondacks  every  year. 
I  have  seen  the  great  waste  places  and  the  desolation  of 
which  you  have  heard  ;  but,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  have 
been  on  the  edge  of  another  great  waste,  on  the  margin  of 
another  great  wilderness.  I  refer  to  the  Capitol  at  Albany. 
Now,  make  no  mistake  :  if  you  wish  to  preserve  your  forests 
from  waste,  there  must  be  considerable  cultivation  done  up 
there. 

But,  after  all,  there  is  no  reason  for  discouragement.  A 
little  reminiscence  of  a  previous  struggle  like  this  will  teach 
you  that.  There  was  a  suggestion  made  when  I  was  in 
Albany  that  an  effort  should  be  made  to  have  a  reservation  at 
Niagara  Falls  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  the  great  natural 
beauty  of  the  place.  I  must  confess  that  that  project  seemed 
to  me  a  rather  discouraging  one  to  attempt.  I  was  full  of 
sympathy,  but  not  full  of  hope.  Its  warmest  supporters 
hardly  dared  to  predict  that  their  hopes  would  be  realized, 
yet  they  were  realized,  and  I  will  tell  you  how. 

If  we  had  then  gone  to  the  Legislature  with  a  bill  asking 


AND  PA  TR10TIC  QUESTIONS.  235 

for  so  much  money  to  buy  so  much  land  around  the  Falls,  we 
certainly  would  have  failed.  We  might  have  gone  there  and 
pleaded  that  we  only  wanted  $1,500,000  until  we  were  black 
in  the  face,  and  we  would  have  been  answered  every  time  that 
the  $1,500,000  we  asked  for  was  only  an  entering  wedge. 
Our  opponents  would  have  pointed  to  the  Capitol  Building  at 
Albany  and  shaken  their  heads. 

What  did  we  do  ?  We  got  the  Legislature  to  pass  a  law 
authorizing  an  appraisal  of  the  lands  we  wanted  to  preserve. 
As  good  luck  would  have  it,  the  appraisal  amounted  to 
just  about  the  amount  we  said  the  lands  would  cost.  We  had 
continued  to  win  supporters  for  our  project.  We  then  asked 
the  State  to  buy  the  lands,  and,  to  her  credit  be  it  said,  she 
did  so. 

Our  success  then  was  largely  due  to  an  argument  we  may 
use  here.  We  wanted  to  awaken  the  people's  pride.  I  used 
to  say  to  people  that  Niagara  Falls  was  a  great  natural 
wonder  by  which  we  were  known  throughout  the  world. 
When  you  go  to  Europe,  you  are  asked  about  Niagara  Falls. 
I  have  never  been  to  Europe,  but  I  take  that  for  granted  for 
the  sake  of  argument.  When  we  told  people  that  they  began 
to  take  a  sort  of  personal  pride  in  Niagara.  So  we  must  make 
them  feel  that  they  have  a  personal  interest  in  the  splendid 
Adirondack  region,  which  will  make  them  demand  its  preser 
vation.  I  would  propose  that  we  have  a  committee  of  128 
able-bodied  citizens,  each  of  whom  shall  go  to  Albany,  take 
a  legislator  by  the  ear,  and  show  him  the  great  import  of  the 
work  for  which  we  ask  his  support. 

The  trouble  is  that  the  waste  of  our  means  of  transporta 
tion  is  too  remote  to  affect  them.  They  will  shrug  their 
shoulders  and  say  that  the  Hudson  River  will  continue  to 
flow  as  long  as  they  live,  and  future  generations — well,  per 
haps  future  generations  can  get  along  without  rivers.  Tell 
them  that  the  work  is  essential  to  the  preservation  of  health, 
and  they  will  answer  you  that  they  are  healthy  enough.  These 
arguments  are  weak  to  us,  but  to  a  member  of  the  Legislature, 


23<>  ON  Kb  UCA  T10NAL 

when    linked    with    the     question  of    expense,   they   become 
strong. 

We  must  take  up  the  great  task  before  us  by  easy  stages. 
Let  us  begin  on  what  we  already  have.  Let  us  demand  that 
the  State  shall  preserve  the  great  amount  of  Adirondack 
lands  it  now  owns.  That  will  not  antagonize  anybody.  Let 
us  demand  that  railroads  shall  not  go  in  there  on  public  lands 
except  upon  the  consent  of  the  State  and  the  Forest  Com- 
mission.  That  is  but  right  and  cannot  antagonize  anybody. 
We  must  not  ask  that  somebody  be  given  a  license  to  go  into 
the  Adirondack  region  and  blow  up  all  the  destructive  dams, 
but  we  can  with  reason  ask  the  State  to  see  that  no  dam  shall 
exist  which  is  an  injury  to  public  lands  and  public  forests. 

Let  us  begin  at  once  to  protect  what  we  have.  That  will 
demonstrate  to  the  people  the  value  of  our  work.  Having 
done  that,  I  believe  that  securing  new  lands  and  finally  get 
ting  such  a  great  State  Park  as  we  need  will  be  an  easy 
matter.  Rome  was  not  built  in  a  day.  A  great  Adirondack 
Park  cannot  be  acquired  by  a  single  act. 

I  believe  that  we  must  have  the  co-operation  of  those  who 
now  own  Adirondack  lands.  This  is  especially  true  of  the 
clubs  which  have  purchased  preserves  there  for  sporting  pur 
poses.  Their  desire  to  preserve  the  natural  beauty  of  the 
region  is  as  strong  as  ours  is.  If  we  could  get  these  clubs  to 
hold  lands  adjoining  State  lands,  doing  more  or  less  exchang 
ing  for  State  lands,  the  region  under  preservation  would  be  so 
much  larger.  I  believe  that  it  would  be  perfectly  feasible  to 
frame  a  law,  agreeable  to  these  clubs,  that  would  give  the 
State  a  right  to  protect,  not  a  title  to,  private  preserves  ad 
joining  a  park, 

Don't,  then,  let  us  shock  our  lawmakers,  economical  at  least 
on  matters  of  this  kind,  by  asking  for  too  much  at  once. 
Don't  let  us  oppose  any  association,  society,  or  individual  that 
is  working  on  the  same  line  as  we  are.  We  need  all  the  help 
we  can  get.  Let  us  get  to  work  to  do  something  now,  for, 
although  it  may  be  but  an  inch  of  the  mile  we  ultimately 


A  ND  PA  TRIO  TIC  Q  UKS  TIONS.  2  3  7 

want,  we  must  remember  that  a  little  done  now  is  worth  a 
great  deal  in  the  future.  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolu 
tion  as  offered. 


XI. 

At  the  Annual  Banquet  of  the  New   England   Society  of 
Brooklyn,  December  21,  1891. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

As  this  is  the  first  time  I  have  attended  a  dinner  given  by  a 
New  England  Society,  I  beg  to  express  the  gratification  it 
affords  me  to  enter  upon  my  new  experience  in  the  City  of 
Brooklyn  and  among  those  whom  I  have  always  regarded  as 
especially  my  friends. 

You  are  by  no  means  to  suppose  that  my  failure  heretofore 
to  be  present  on  occasions  like  this  is  accounted  for  by  any 
doubt  I  have  had  as  to  my  qualifications  for  admission.  From 
the  time  the  first  immigrant  of  my  name  landed  in  Massachu 
setts,  down  to  the  day  of  my  advent,  all  the  Clevelands  from 
whom  I  claim  descent  were  born  in  New  England.  The  fact 
that  I  first  saw  the  light  in  the  State  of  New  Jersey  I  have 
never  regarded  as  working  a  forfeiture  of  any  right  I  may 
have  derived  from  my  New  England  lineage,  nor  as  making 
me  an  intruder  or  merely  tolerated  guest  in  an  assemblage  of 
this  kind.  I  resent,  of  course,  with  becoming  spirit,  the  impu 
tation  that  my  birth  in  New  Jersey  constitutes  me  a  foreigner 
and  an  alien  ;  and  I  have  never  been  able  to  see  any  humor 
in  the  suggestion  that  my  native  State  is  not  within  the  Union. 
To  my  mind  the  regularity  with  which  she  votes  the  Demo 
cratic  ticket  entitles  her  to  a  high  rank  among  the  States  that 
are  really  useful.  At  any  rate,  I  shall  always  insist  that  New 
Jersey  is  a  good  State  to  be  born  in,  and  I  point  to  the  fact  that, 
after  an  absence  of  more  than  fifty  years,  I  have  returned  to 
find  a  temporary  home  within  her  limits  as  fully  demon 
strating  that  my  very  early  love  for  her  is  not  extinguished. 


238 


ON  EDUCATIONAL 


Assuming  that  you   agree  with  me  that   my   birth  in  New 
Jersey  has  not  stamped  me  with  indelible  ineligibility,and  an- 
icipatmg  your  demand  for  affirmative  support  of  my  qualifi 
cation  to  mingle   with  those  who  celebrate   Forefathers'  Dav 
and   sing  the   praises  of  the   men   who   first  settled   in  New 
England,  I  can  do  no  better  than  to   rest  my  case   upon  the 
statement  that  Bean  Hill,  in  the  town  of  Norwich  and  State  of 
Connecticut,  was  the  birthplace  of  my  father.     I  hope  that  in 
making  this  statement  I  shall  not  remind  you  of  the  man  who 
loudly  boasted  of  his  patriotic  sacrifice  in  defense  of  his  coun 
try  on  the  ground  that  he  had  permitted  his  wife's  relatives  to 
join  the  army.     At  any  rate,  it  seems  to  me   that   the  claim  I 
make  is  entirely  valid,  with  no  embarrassment  connected  with 
it,  except  the   admission    by  inference  that  for  some  purposes 
and  on  some  occasions  a  father's  birthplace  may  be  of  more 
value  to  a  man  than  his  own.     I  have  nothing  further  to  urcre 
on  the  subject  of  my  eligibility  except  to  mention,  as  some 
thing  which  should  be  credited  to  me  upon  my  own  account, 
the  fact  that   I  have   lately  demonstrated  my  preference   for 
New   England   and   my   love   for  that  section  of  our  country 
where  my  ancestors  lived  and  died,  by  establishing  a  summer 
home  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 

I  think  all  of  us  are  old  enough  to  remember  the  prophetic 
words  put  opposite  certain  dates  in  the  old  almanacs,  «  About 
these  days  look  out  for  snow."  If  almanacs  were  now  made 
up  as  they  used  to  be,  it  would  not  be  amiss  to  set  opposite  the 
latter  days  of  December,  «  About  these  days  look  out  for  crlori- 
fication  of  the  Pilgrims."  This  would  be  notice  to  those  con 
sulting  the  almanac  that  a  time  was  foretold,  when  the  people 
the  country  would  be  reminded  that  there  were  Pilgrims 
who  came  to  New  England,  and  there  set  in  motion  the  forces 
which  created  our  wondrous  nation. 

No  one  will  deny  that  the  Pilgrims  to  New  England  were 
well  worthy  of  all  that  is  done  or  can  be  done  to  keep  them  in 
remembrance.  ]hit  we  cannot  recall  their  history,  and  what 
they  did  and  established,  and  what  they  taught,  without  also 


A  ND  PA  TRIO  TIC  QUES  TIONS.  239 

recalling  that  there  have  been  Pilgrims  from  New  England 
who,  finding  their  way  to  every  part  of  the  land,  have  taken 
with  them  those  habits,  opinions,  and  sentiments  which,  having 
an  early  origin  in  American  soil,  should  be  best  suited  to 
American  life  everywhere,  and  should  be  the  best  guarantees 
in  every  situation,  of  the  preservation,  in  their  integrity  and 
purity,  of  American  institutions. 

We  have  heard  much  of  abandoned  lands  in  New  England. 
If  farms  have  been  abandoned  there,  we  know  that  larger  and 
more  productive  farms  have  been  developed  in  newer  States 
by  the  Pilgrims  from  New  England.  If  the  population  of  New 
England  has  suffered  a  drain,  we  shall  find  that  the  vigorous 
activity  lost  to  her  has  built  up  new  cities  and  towns  on  dis 
tant  and  unbroken  soil  and  impressed  upon  these  new  crea 
tions  the  truest  and  best  features  of  American  civilization. 

While  all  will  admit  the  debt  our  great  country  owes  to  New 
England  influences,  and  while  none  of  us  should  be  unmindful 
of  the  benefits  to  be  reasonably  expected  from  the  maintenance 
and  spread  of  these  influences,  a  thought  is  suggested  which 
has  further  relation  to  the  mission  and  duty  of  the  Pilgrims 
from  New  England  and  their  descendants,  wherever  they  may 
be  scattered  throughout  the  land.  If  they  are  at  all  true  to 
their  teachings  and  their  traditions,  they  will  naturally  illus 
trate,  in  a  practical  way,  the  value  of  education  and  moral  sen 
timent  in  the  foundations  of  social  life  and  the  value  of  indus 
try  and  economy  as  conditions  of  thrift  and  contentment. 
But  these  Pilgrims  and  their  descendants  and  all  those  who, 
with  sincere  enthusiasm,  celebrate  Forefathers'  Day,  will  fail 
in  the  discharge  of  their  highest  duty  if,  yielding  to  the 
temptation  of  any  un-American  tendency,  they  neglect  to 
teach  persistently  that  in  the  early  days  there  was,  and  that 
there  still  ought  to  be,  such  a  thing  as  true  and  distinctive 
Americanism,  or  if  they  neglect  to  give  it  just  interpretation. 

This  certainly  does  not  mean  that  a  spirit  of  narrowness  or 
proscription  should  be  encouraged,  nor  that  there  should  be 
created  or  kept  alive  a  fear  concerning  such  additions  to  our 


2  4°  ON  RDUCA  TIONA  f. 

population  from  other  lands  as  promise  assimilation  with  our 
conditions  and  co-operation  in  our  aims  and  purposes.  It 
does,  however,  mean  the  insistence  that  every  transfer  of  alle 
giance  from  another  government  to  our  own,  should  signify 
the  taking  on  at  the  same  time  of  an  aggressive  and  affirmative 
devotion  to  the  spirit  of  American  institutions.  It  means  that 
with  us,  a  love  of  our  government  for  its  own  sake  and  for 
what  it  is,  is  an  essential  factor  of  citizenship,  and  that  it  is 
only  made  full  and  complete  by  the  adoption  of  the  ideas  and 
habits  of  thought  which  underlie  our  plan  of  popular  rule.  It 
means  that  one  fills  a  place  in  our  citizenship  unworthily  who 
regards  it  solely  as  a  vantage  ground  where  he  may  fill  his  purse 
and  better  his  condition.  It  means  that  our  government  is 
not  suited  to  a  selfish,  sordid  people,  and  that  in  their  hands  it 
is  not  safe. 

This  is  a  time  when  there  is  pressing  need  for  the  earnest 
enforcement  of  these  truths  ;  ancT  occasions  like  this  cannot 
be  better  improved  than  by  leading  us  to  such  self-examination 
and  self-correction  as  shall  fit  us  to  illustrate  and  teach  the 
lessons  of  true  Americanism.  When  we  here  recall  the  land 
ing  of  the  Pilgrims,  let  us  remember  that  they  not  only  sought 
"  Freedom  to  worship  God,"  but  they  also  sought  to  establish 
the  freedom  and  liberty  of  manhood.  When  we  dwell  upon 
their  stern  and  sturdy  traits,  let  us  remember  that  these 
nurtured  the  spirit  which  achieved  American  independence, 
and  that  in  such  soil  alone  can  its  fruits  ripen  to  bless  our 
people.  When  we  contemplate  how  completely  conscience 
guided  their  lives  and  conduct,  let  us  resolve  that  conscience 
shall  find  a  place  in  every  phase  of  our  citizenship  ;  and  when 
we  learn  of  their  solicitude  and  care  for  their  new-found  home, 
let  us  acknowledge  that  unselfish  love  of  country  can  alone 
show  us  the  path  of  political  duty. 

With  such  preparation  as  this— leaving  no  place  for  the 
ignoble  thought  that  our  government  can,  without  perversion, 
hold  out  unequal  rewards  and  encourage  selfish  beings — we 


AND  PATRIOTIC  QUESTIONS.  241 

shall  teach  that  this  heritage  of  ours  has  been  confided  from 
generation  to  generation  to  the  patriotic  keeping  and  loving 
care  of  true  Americanism,  and  that  this  alone  can  preserve  it  ; 
to  shelter  a  free  and  happy  people — protecting  all,  defending 
all,  and  blessing  all. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

TO    POLITICAL    CLUBS    AND    ORGANIZATIONS. 


At  the  Manhattan  Club,  December  5,  1882. 

IT  is  not  without  considerable  embarrassment  that  I  attempt 
to  say  a  few  words  in  response  to  those  so  well  spoken,  and  to 
express  my  thanks  for  the  kindness  and  good  will  of  which 
this  occasion  is  an  evidence.  This  scene  and  these  surround 
ings  are  new  and  strange  to  me,  and,  notwithstanding  all  that 
is  calculated  to  reassure  and  comfort  me  in  the  kindness  of 
your  welcome,  when  I  am  reminded  of  the  circumstances 
which  give  rise  to  this  reunion,  a  sense  of  grave  responsi 
bility  weighs  upon  me  and  tempers  every  other  sentiment. 

We  stand  to-night  in  the  full  glare  of  a  grand  and  brilliant 
manifestation  of  popular  will,  and  in  the  light  of  it  how  vain 
and  small  appear  the  tricks  of  politicians  and  the  movements 
of  party  machinery.  He  must  be  blind  who  cannot  see  that 
the  people  well  understand  their  power  and  are  determined  to 
use  it  when  their  rights  and  interests  are  threatened.  There 
should  be  no  skepticism  to-night  as  to  the  strength  and  per 
petuity  of  our  popular  government.  Partisan  leaders  have 
learned,  too,  that  the  people  will  not  unwittingly  and  blindly 
follow,  and  that  something  more  than  unmeaning  devotion  to 
party  is  necessary  to  secure  their  allegiance. 

I  am  quite  certain,  too,  that  the  late  demonstration  did  not 
spring  from  any  pre-existing  love  for  the  party  which  was 
called  to  power,  nor  did  the  people  place  the  affairs  of  state  in 
our  hands  to  be  by  them  forgotten.  They  voted  for  them 
selves  and  in  their  own  interests.  If  we  retain  their  confidence 


TO  POLITICAL    CLUHS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       -M3 

we  must  deserve  it,  and  we  may  be  sure  they  will  call  on  us  to 
give  an  account  of  our  stewardship.  We  shall  utterly  fail  to 
read  aright  the  signs  of  the  times  if  we  are  not  fully  convinced 
that  parties  are  but  the  instruments  through  which  the  people 
work  their  will,  and  that  when  they  become  less  or  more  the 
people  desert  or  destroy  them.  The  vanquished  have  lately 
learned  these  things,  and  the  victors  will  act  wisely  if  they 
profit  by  the  lesson. 

I  have  read  and  heard  much  of  late  touching  the  great  re 
sponsibility  which  has  been  cast  upon  me,  and  it  is  certainly 
predicated  upon  the  fLict  that  my  majority  was  so  large  as  to 
indicate  that  many,  not  members  of  the  party  to  which  I  am 
proud  to  belong,  supported  me.  God  knows  how  fully  I  ap 
preciate  the  responsibility  of  the  high  office  to  which  I  have 
been  called,  and  how  much  1  sometimes  fear  that  I  shall  not 
bear  the  burden  well.  It  has  seemed  to  me,  however,  that  the 
citizen  who  has  been  chosen  by  his  fellows  to  discharge  public 
duties  owes  no  less  nor  more  to  them,  whether  he  was  elected 
by  a  small  or  a  large  majority.  In  either  event,  he  owes  to 
the  people  who  have  honored  him  his  best  endeavor  to  protect 
their  rights  and  further  their  interests. 

But  if  it  is  merely  intended  to  remind  me  that,  as  a  member 
of  a  party,  attached  to  its  principles,  and  anxious  for  its 
continued  supremacy,  my  conduct  should  be  such  as  to  give 
hope  and  confidence  to  those  who  are  surely  with  us,  I  have 
to  say  that  this  responsibility  should  be  shared  by  all  the 
members  of  the  party.  An  administration  is  only  successful, 
in  a  partisan  sense,  when  it  appears  to  be  the  outgrowth  and 
result  of  party  principles  and  methods.  You  who  lead  and 
others  who  follow,  should  all  strive  to  commend  to  the  people 
in  this,  the  time  of  our  opportunity,  not  an  administration 
alone,  but  a  party  which  shall  appear  adequate  to  their  wants 
and  useful  to  their  purposes. 

The  time-honored  doctrines  of  the  Democratic  party  are 
dear  to  me.  If  honestly  applied  in  their  purity  I  know  the 
affairs  of  the  government  would  be  fittingly  and  honestly  ad- 


244        TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AXD   OKGAX1ZAT1OXS. 

ministered,  and  1  believe  that  all  the  wants  of  the  people 
would  be  met.  They  have  survived  all  changes,  and  good  and 
patriotic  men  have  citing  to  them,  through  all  disasters,  as  the 
hope  of  political  salvation.  Let  us  hold  them  as  a  sacred 
trust,  and  let  us  not  forget  that  an  intelligent,  reading,  and 
thinking  people  will  look  to  the  party  which  they  put  in  power 
to  supply  all  their  various  needs  and  wants.  And  the  party 
which  keeps  pace  with  the  development  and  progress  of  the 
time,  which  keeps  in  sight  its  landmarks  and  yet  observes 
those  things  which  are  in  advance,  and  which  will  continue 
true  to  the  people  as  well  as  to  its  traditions,  will  be  the  dom 
inant  party  of  the  future. 

In  conclusion,  may  I  bespeak  for  myself  your  kind  support 
and  consideration  ?  My  only  aspiration  is  to  perform,  faith 
fully,  the  duties  of  the  office  to  which  the  people  of  my  State 
have  called  me,  and  I  hope  and  trust  that  proud  endeavor  will 
light  the  way  to  a  successful  administration. 


II. 

At  a  Reception  Given  by  the  Democratic  Club,  New  York, 
April  27,  1889. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  : 

Many  incidents  of  my  short  residence  in  this  good  city  have 
served  to  fill  my  cup  of  gratitude,  and  to  arouse  my  appre 
ciation  of  the  kindness  and  consideration  of  those  with  whom 
I  have  made  my  home.  The  hospitality  of  the  citizens  of  New 
York,  for  which  they  have  long  been  distinguished,  has  out 
done  itself  in  my  welcome.  The  members  of  my  profession 
have,  upon  my  return  to  its  activities,  received  me  with  fra 
ternal  greetings,  and  personal  friends  have  not  permitted  me 
to  feel  like  a  stranger  in  a  strange  city. 

And  yet  I  can  truly  say  to-night  that  none  of  these  things 


TO  POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       245 

will  be  more  vividly  and  gratefully  remembered  than  the  op 
portunity  afforded  me  by  this  occasion  to  greet  the  political 
friends  I  see  about  me.  While  I  believe  that  no  man  is  more 
susceptible  than  I  to  every  personal  kindness,  and  while  I  am 
sure  that  no  one  values  more  his  personal  friendships,  it  should 
not  be  regarded  as  strange  when  I  say  that  these  are  not  more 
cherished  than  my  loyalty  and  attachment  to  Democratic  faith 
and  my  obligation  to  the  cardinal  principles  of  its  party  or 
ganization. 

I  have  been  honored  by  my  party  far  beyond  my  deserts  ; 
indeed,  no  man  can  deserve  its  highest  honors.  After  six 
years  of  public  service,  I  return  to  you,  my  party  friends. 
Six  years  have  I  stood  as  your  representative  in  the  State  and 
nation,  and  now  I  return  again  to  the  ranks,  more  convinced 
than  ever  that  the  cause  of  true  Democracy  is  the  cause  of  the 
people — their  safeguard  and  their  hope. 

I  come  to  you  with  no  excuses  or  apologies,  and  with  no 
confession  of  disloyalty.  It  is  not  given  to  man  to  meet  the 
various  and  conflicting  views  of  party  duty  and  policy  which 
prevail  within  an  organization  where  individual  opinion  is  so 
freely  tolerated  as  in  the  Democratic  party.  Because  these 
views  are  various  and  conflicting  some  of  them  must  be  wrong, 
but  when  they  are  honestly  held  and  advocated  they  should 
provoke  no  bitterness  or  condemnation.  But  when  they  are 
proclaimed  merely  as  a  cover  and  pretext  for  personal  resent 
ment  and  disappointment,  they  should  be  met  by  the  exposure 
and  contempt  which  they  deserve. 

If  one  charged  with  party  representation,  with  sincere  design 
and  purpose  keeps  the  party  faith,  that  should  be  a  fulfillment 
of  his  party  obligation. 

No  man  can  lay  down  the  trust  which  he  has  held  in  behalf 
of  a  generous  and  confiding  people,  and  feel  that  at  all  times 
he  has  met,  in  the  best  possible  way,  the  requirements  of  his 
trust ;  but  he  is  not  derelict  in  duty  if  he  has  conscientiously 
devoted  his  effort  and  his  judgment  to  the  people's  service. 

I  have   deliberately  placed  in  close  connection  loyalty  to 


246         TO  POLITICAL  'CLUBS  AND  ORGANIZATIONS. 

Democratic  principles  and  devotion  to  the  people's  interest, 
for,  in  my  view,  they  belong  together  and  should  mean  the 
same  thing. 

But,  in  this  day  of  party  feeling  and  attachment,  it  is  well  for 
us  to  pause  and  recall  the  fact  that  the  only  justification  for 
the  existence  of  any  party  is  the  claim  that,  in  profession  and 
intent,  its  objects  and  its  purposes  are  the  promotion  of  the 
public  good  and  the  advancement  and  the  welfare  and  pros 
perity  of  the  entire  country.  There  never  was  a  party  plat 
form  or  declaration  of  principles  that  did  not  profess  these 
things  and  make  them  the  foundation  of  party  creed,  and  any 
body  of  men  that  should  associate  themselves  together  pro 
claiming  openly  that  their  purpose  was  supremacy  in  the  gov 
ernment  with  the  sole  intent  of  distributing  offices  and  the 
spoils  of  victory  among  their  associates,  would  be  treated 
with  ridicule  and  scorn.  Thus  we  are  brought  face  to  face 
with  the  proposition  that  parties  no  more  than  individuals 
should  be  untruthful  or  dishonest. 

Of  course  in  the  supremacy  of  party  there  are  advantages 
to  its  members — and  this  is  not  amiss.  But  when  high  party 
aims  and  professions  are  lost  sight  of  and  abandoned,  and 
the  interests  of  office  holding  and  personal  pelf  are  all  that 
remain  to  inspire  party  activity,  not  only  is  the  support  ex 
pected  from  patriotic  people  forfeited,  but  the  elements  of 
cohesion  and  of  effective  and  lasting  political  strength  are 
gone.  The  honest  differences  of  opinion  which  must  always 
exist  upon  questions  of  principle  and  of  public  policy,  should 
be  sufficient  occasion  for  the  existence  of  parties,  and  should 
point  to  the  field  of  their  usefulness.  The  study  of  these 
questions  cannot  fail  to  result  in  more  valuable  citizenship 
and  more  intelligent  and  better  equipped  partisans. 

When  we  seek  for  the  cause  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  and  its  survival  through  every  crisis  and  emer 
gency,  and  in  the  face  of  all  opposition,  we  find  it  in  the  fact 
that  its  corner  stone  is  laid  in  devotion  to  the  rights  of  the 
people  and  in  its  sympathy  with  all  things  that  tend  to  the 


TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       247 

advancement  of  their  welfare  and  happiness.  Though  heresy 
may  sometimes  have  crept  into  its  organization,  and  though 
party  conduct  may  at  times  have  been  influenced  by  the  shifti 
ness  which  is  the  habitual  device  of  its  opponents,  there  has 
always  remained  deeply  imbedded  in  its  nature  and  character 
that  spirit  of  true  Americanism  and  that  love  of  popular  rights 
which  has  made  it  indestructible  in  disaster  and  defeat,  and 
has  constituted  it  a  boon  to  the  country  in  its  hour  of  triumph 
and  supremacy. 

The  great  founder  of  our  party,  as  he  consecrated  himself 
by  a  solemn  oath  to  the  faithful  performance  of  the  duties  of 
the  Presidential  office,  and  as  he  pledged  himself  to  the  preser 
vation,  protection,  and  defense  of  the  Constitution,  after  pre 
senting  to  his  assembled  countrymen  the  causes  of  congratu 
lation,  found  in  the  condition  of  our  country  and  the  character 
of  our  people,  impressively  added  :  "  With  all  these  blessings, 
what  more  is  necessary  to  make  us  a  happy  and  prosperous 
people?  Still  one  thing  more,  fellow-citizens:  a  wise  and 
frugal  government  which  shall  restrain  men  from  injuring  one 
another,  shall  leave  them  otherwise  free  to  regulate  their  own 
pursuits  of  industry  and  improvement,  and  shall  not  take  from 
the  mouth  of  labor  the  bread  it  has  earned.  This  is  the  sum 
of  good  government,  and  this  is  necessary  to  close  the  circle 
of  our  felicities." 

In  the  lexicon  of  true  Democracy  these  words  are  not  obso 
lete,  but  they  still  furnish  the  inspiration  for  our  efforts  and  an 
interpretation  of  our  political  faith. 

Happily  the  party  creed  which  we  profess  is  not  within  such 
narrow  lines  as  that  obedience  does  not  permit  us  to  move 
abreast  with  the  advanced  thought  of  the  country  and  to  meet 
and  test  every  question  and  apply  a  principle  to  every  situa 
tion. 

True  Democracy,  stanch  in  its  adhesion  to  fundamental 
doctrine,  is  at;  the  same  time,  in  a  proper  sense,  progressive. 
It  recognizes  our  growth  and  our  expansion,  and  the  birth  of 
new  thought  and  sentiment.  It  will  judge  them  all  by  safe 


243        TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND  ORGANIZATIONS. 

standards,  and  in  every  phase  of  national  development  it  will 
be  prepared  to  meet  as  they  arise  every  need  of  the  people 
and  every  popular  want.  True  Democracy  honestly  advocates 
national  brotherhood,  to  the  end  that  all  our  countrymen  may 
aid  in  the  achievement  of  the  grand  destiny  which  awaits  us  as 
a  nation  ;  and  it  condemns  the  pretext  of  liberality  and  har 
mony  which,  when  partisan  advantage  is  to  be  gained,  gives 
way  for  inflammatory  appeals  to  sectional  hate  and  passion. 
It  insists  upon  that  equality  before  the  law  which  concedes 
the  care  and  protection  of  the  government  to  simple  manhood 
and  citizenship.  It  does  not  favor  the  multiplication  of  offices 
and  salaries  merely  to  make  partisans,  nor  use  the  promise 
and  bestowal  of  place  for  the  purpose  of  stifling  the  press  and 
bribing  the  people.  It  seeks  to  lighten  the  burdens  of  life  in 
every  home  and  to  take  from  the  citizen  for  the  cost  of  gov 
ernment  the  lowest  possible  tribute. 

We  know  that  we  have  espoused  the  cause  of  right  and 
justice.  We  know  that  we  have  not  permitted  duty  to  coun 
try  to  wait  upon  expediency.  We  know  that  we  have  not 
trafficked  our  principles  for  success.  We  know  that  we  have 
not  deceived  the  people  with  false  promises  and  pretenses. 
And  we  know  that  we  have  not  corrupted  or  betrayed  the 
poor  with  the  money  of  the  rich. 

Who  shall  say  that  these  things  promise  no  reward  and  that 
triumph  shall  not  follow  the  enlightened  judgment  and  the 
sober  second  thought  of  our  countrymen  ?  There  are  to-day 
no  weak,  weary,  and  despondent  members  of  the  true  Democ 
racy,  and  there  should  be  none.  Thoughtful  attention  to 
political  topics  is  thoroughly  aroused.  Events  day  by  day  are 
leading  men  to  review  the  reasons  for  their  party  affiliations 
and  the  supporters  of  the  principles  we  profess  are  constantly 
recruited  by  intelligent,  young,  and  sturdy  adherents. 

Let  us  deserve  their  confidence,  and,  shunning  all  ignoble 
practices,  let  us  remain  steadfast  to  Democratic  faith  and  to 
the  cause  of  our  country.  If  we  are  true  and  loyal  to  these, 


TO  POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       249 

the  day  of  our  triumph  will  surely  and  quickly  come,  and  our 
victory  shall  be  fairly,  nobly  won,  through  the  invincible 
spirit  of  true  Democracy. 


III. 

At  the   Thurman    Birthday  Banquet,  Columbus,  O.,  November 

13,  1890. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  follow  the  promptings  of  a  heart  full  of  devotion  and 
veneration,  as  I  tender  from  the  Democracy  of  the  great  State 
of  New  York  her  tribute  of  affection  for  the  man  whom  we 
honor  to-night.  I  am  commissioned  to  claim  for  my  State  her 
full  share  of  the  glory  which  has  been  shed  upon  the  American 
name  and  character  by  one  whose  career  and  example  cannot 
be  pre-empted,  and  whose  renown  cannot  be  limited  in  owner 
ship  to  the  neighbors  and  friends  of  any  locality.  We  contest 
every  exclusive  pretension  to  his  fame  and  greatness,  because 
he  is  a  neighbor  to  all  the  people  of  the  land  ;  because  he  is 
the  friend  of  all  who  love  their  country  ;  because  his  career 
splendidly  illustrates  the  best  and  strongest  elements  of  our 
national  character;  and  because  his  example  belongs  to  all 
his  countrymen. 

It  is  fitting  that  those  who  have  faith  in  our  destiny  as  a 
nation,  who  believe  that  there  are  noble  things  which  belong 
distinctively  to  our  character  as  a  people,  and  who  prize  at  its 
true  worth  pure  American  citizenship,  should  gather  here  to 
night.  It  is  given  us  to  contemplate  the  highest  statesman 
ship,  the  most  unyielding  and  disinterested  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  the  people,  and  the  most  valuable  achievements 
in  the  cause  of  our  country's  welfare,  all  of  which  have  been 
stimulated  and  accomplished  through  the  influence  and  im 
pulse  of  true,  unperverted,  sturdy  Americanism.  We  rejoice 
in  the  example  afforded  on  this  occasion  of  genuine  American 


250       TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

citizenship,  revealed  to  us  as  a  safe  and  infallible  interpreter 
of  duty  in  all  the  emergencies  of  a  long  and  honorable  public 
career,  and  as  an  unfailing  guide  to  usefulness  and  fame. 

In  this  presence  and  in  the  atmosphere  of  these  reflections, 
we  should  not  miss  the  lesson  they  commend  to  us,  nor  fail  to 
renew  our  appreciation  of  the  value  of  this  citizenship,  and 
revive  our  apprehension  of  the  sentiments  and  conditions  in 
which  it  has  its  rise  and  growth. 

And  first  of  all  we  should  be  profoundly  grateful  that  the 
elements  which  make  up  the  strength  and  vigor  of  American 
citizenship  are  so  naturally  related  to  our  situation  and  are  so 
simple.  The  intrigues  of  monarchy  which  taint  the  individual 
character  of  the  subject  ;  the  splendor  which  dazzles  the  pop 
ular  eye  and  distracts  the  attention  from  abuses  and  stifles 
discontent  ;  the  schemes  of  conquest  and  selfish  aggrandize 
ment  which  make  a  selfish  people,  have  no  legitimate  place  in 
our  national  life.  Here  the  plain  people  of  the  land  are  the 
rulers.  Their  investiture  of  power  is  only  accompanied  with 
the  conditions  that  they  should  love  their  country,  that  they 
should  jealously  guard  and  protect  its  interests  and  fair  fame, 
and  that  all  the  intelligence  with  which  they  are  endowed 
should  be  devoted  to  an  understanding  of  its  needs  and  the 
promotion  of  its  welfare. 

These  are  the  elements  of  American  citizenship,  and  these 
are  the  conditions  upon  which  our  free  institutions  were  in 
trusted  to  our  people,  in  full  reliance,  at  the  beginning  and  for 
all  time  to  come,  upon  American  manhood,  consecrated  by  the 
highest  and  purest  patriotism. 

A  country,  broad  and  new,  to  be  subdued  to  the  purposes  of 
man's  existence,  and  promising  vast  and  independent  re 
sources,  and  a  people  intelligently  understanding  the  value  of 
a  free  nation  and  holding  fast  to  an  intense  affection  for  its 
history  and  its  heroes,  have  had  much  to  do  with  molding 
our  American  character  and  giving  it  hardihood  and  vigor. 
But  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the  influence  which, 
more  than  all  other  things,  has  made  our  people  safe  deposi- 


TO  POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       251 

tones  of  governmental  power,  and  which  has  furnished  the 
surest  guarantee  of  the  strength  and  perpetuity  of  the  re 
public,  has  its  source  in  the  American  home.  Here  our  patri 
otism  is  born  and  entwines  itself  with  the  growth  of  filial  love, 
and  here  our  children  are  taught  the  story  of  our  freedom  and 
independence.  But  above  ail,  here  in  the  bracing  and  whole 
some  atmosphere  of  uncomplaining  frugality  and  economy, 
the  mental  and  moral  attributes  of  our  people  have  been  firmly 
knit  and  invigorated.  Never  could  it  be  said  of  any  country 
so  truly  as  of  ours,  that  the  permanency  of  its  institutions 
depends  upon  its  homes. 

I  have  spoken  of  frugality  and  economy  as  important  factors 
in  American  life.  I  find  no  fault  with  the  accumulation  of 
wealth,  and  am  glad  to  see  energy  and  enterprise  receive  their 
fair  reward.  But  I  believe  that  our  government,  in  its  natural 
integrity,  is  exactly  suited  to  a  frugal  and  economical  people  ; 
and  I  believe  it  is  safest  in  the  hands  of  those  who  have  been 
made  strong  and  self-reliant  in  their  citizenship,  by  self-denial 
and  by  the  surroundings  of  an  enforced  economy.  Thrift  and 
careful  watchfulness  of  expenditure  among  the  people  tend  to 
secure  a  thrifty  government ;  and  cheap  and  careful  living  on 
the  part  of  individuals  ought  to  enforce  economy  in  the  public 
expenditures. 

When,  therefore,  men  in  high  places  of  trust,  charged  with 
the  responsibility  of  making  and  executing  our  laws,  not  only 
condemn  but  flippantly  deride  cheapness  and  economy  within 
the  homes  of  our  people,  and  when  the  expenditures  of  the 
government  are  reckless  and  wasteful,  we  may  be  sure  that 
something  is  wrong  with  us,  and  that  a  condition  exists  which 
calls  for  a  vigorous  and  resentful  defense  of  Americanism,  by 
every  man  worthy  to  be  called  an  American  citizen. 

Upon  the  question  of  cheapness  and  economy,  whether  it 
relates  to  individuals  or  to  the  operations  of  the  government, 
the  Democratic  party,  true  to  its  creed  and  its  traditions,  will 
unalterably  remain  attached  to  our  plain  and  frugal  people. 
They  are  especially  entitled  to  the  watchful  care  and  protec- 


252        TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

tion  of  their  government ;  and  when  they  are  borne  down  with 
burdens  greater  than  they  can  bear,  and  are  made  the  objects 
of  scorn  by  hard  taskmasters,  we  will  not  leave  their  side.  As 
the  great  German  Reformer,  insisting  upon  his  religious  con 
victions,  in  the  presence  of  his  accusers,  exclaimed,  "  1  can 
do  nought  else.  Here  I  stand.  God  help  me,"  so,  however 
much  others  may  mock  and  deride  cheapness  and  the  poor 
and  frugal  men  and  women  of  our  land,  we  will  stand  forth  in 
defense  of  their  simple  Americanism,  defiantly  proclaiming, 
"  We  can  do  nought  else.  Here  we  stand." 

Thus,  when  the  question  is  raised  whether  our  people  shall 
have  the  necessaries  of  life  at  a  cheaper  rate,  we  are  not 
ashamed  to  confess  ourselves  "  in  full  sympathy  with  the  de 
mand  for  cheaper  coats  "  ;  and  we  are  not  disturbed  by  the 
hint  that  this  seems  "  necessarily  to  involve  a  cheaper  man  or 
woman  under  the  coats." 

When  the  promoter  of  a  party  measure  which  invades  every 
home  in  the  land  with  higher  prices,  declares  that  "cheap 
and  nasty  go  together,  and  this  whole  system  of  cheap  things 
is  a  badge  of  poverty  ;  for  cheap  merchandize  means  cheap 
men,  and  cheap  men  mean  a  cheap  country,"  we  indignantly 
repudiate  such  an  interpretation  of  American  sentiment. 

And  when  another  one,  high  in  party  councils,  who  has  be 
come  notorious  as  the  advocate  of  a  contrivance  to  perpetuate 
partisan  supremacy  by  outrageous  interference  with  the  suf 
frage,  announces  that  the  "cry  for  cheapness  is  un-American," 
we  scornfully  reply  that  his  speech  does  not  indicate  the  slight 
est  conception  of  true  Americanism. 

I  will  not  refer  to  other  utterances  of  like  import  from  simi 
lar  sources.  I  content  myself  with  recalling  the  most  promi 
nent  and  significant.  The  wonder  is  that  these  things  were  ad 
dressed  by  Americans  to  Americans. 

What  was  the  occasion  of  these  condemnations  of  cheapness, 
and  what  had  honest  American  men  and  women  done,  or  what 
were  they  likely  to  do,  that  they  should  be  threatened  with  the 
epithets  "cheap,"  "  nasty,"  and  "  un-American  ?" 


TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND    ORGANIZATIONS.        253 

It  is  hard  to  speak  patiently  as  we  answer  these  questions. 
Step  by  step  a  vast  number  of  our  people  had  been  led  on,  fol 
lowing  blindly  in  the  path  of  party.  They  had  been  filled 
with  hate  and  sectional  prejudice  ;  they  had  been  cajoled  with 
misrepresentations  and  false  promises  ;  they  had  been  cor 
rupted  with  money  and  by  appeals  to  their  selfishness.  All 
these  things  led  up  to  their  final  betrayal  to  satisfy  the  de 
mands  of  those  who  had  supplied  the  fund  for  their  corrup 
tion. 

This  betrayal  was  palpable  ;  and  it  was  impossible  to  deny 
or  conceal  the  fact  that  the  pretended  relief  tendered  to  the 
people  in  fulfilment  of  a  promise  to  lighten  the  burden  of  their 
life,  made  by  the  party  intrusted  with  the  government,  was 
but  a  scheme  to  pay  the  debt  incurred  by  the  purchase  of  party 
success,  while  it  further  increased  the  impoverishment  of  the 
masses. 

The  people  were  at  last  aroused  and  demanded  an  explana 
tion.  They  had  been  taught  for  one  hundred  years  that 
in  the  distribution  of  benefits  their  government  should  be  ad 
ministered  with  equality  and  justice.  They  had  learned  that 
wealth  was  not  indispensable  to  respectability  and  that  it  did 
not  entitle  its  possessors  to  especial  governmental  favors. 
Humble  men  with  scanty  incomes  had  been  encouraged,  by  the 
influence  and  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  to  practice  economy 
and  frugality  to  the  end  that  they  might  enjoy  to  the  utmost 
the  reward  of  their  toil.  The  influence  of  the  American  home 
was  still  about  them.  In  their  simplicity  they  knew  nothing  of 
a  new  dispensation  which  made  cheapness  disreputable,  and 
they  still  loved  the  cheap  coats  of  Lincoln  and  Garfield,  and 
hundreds  of  their  countrymen  whom  they  held  in  veneration. 
And  thus  these  unsophisticated  Americans,  unconscious  of 
their  wrong-doing,  demanded  the  redemption  of  party  pledges 
and  clamored  for  cheapness,  in  order  that  they  might  provide 
the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life  for  themselves  and  their 
families  at  the  lowest  possible  cost. 

The   leaders  of  the  party,  which  was   caught   in  the  act  of 


254        TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND    ORGANIZATIONS. 

robbery  and  which  was  arraigned  by  the  people  for  a  violation 
of  its  trust,  were  forced  by  their  sad  predicament  to  a  desperate 
expedient.  To  attempt  to  reverse  the  current  of  true  Ameri 
canism  and  discredit  the  most  honorable  sentiments  belonging 
to  American  manhood,  were  the  disgraceful  tasks  of  those  who 
insulted  our  people  by  the  announcement  of  the  doctrine  that  to 
desire  cheapness  was  to  love  nastiness,  and  to  practice  economy 
and  frugality  was  un-American. 

Thus  we  do  plainly  see  that  when  the  path  pointed  out  by 
patriotism  and  American  citizenship  is  forsaken  by  a  party  in 
power  for  schemes  of  selfishness  and  for  unscrupulous  con 
spiracies  for  partisan  success,  its  course  inevitably  leads  to  un 
just  favoritism,  neglect  of  the  interest  of  the  masses,  entire 
perversion  of  the  mission  of  republican  institutions,  and,  in 
some  form,  to  the  most  impudent  and  outrageous  insult  to  true 
American  sentiment. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  political  events  in  the  past  have 
gone  far  toward  encouraging  arrogant  party  assumption. 
Every  thoughtful  and  patriotic  man  has  at  times  been  dis 
appointed  and  depressed  by  the  apparent  indifference  and  de 
moralization  of  the  people. 

But  such  reflections  have  no  place  in  the  felicitations  of  to 
night.  This  is  a  time  when  faith  in  our  countrymen  should  be 
fully  re-established.  The  noise  of  a  recent  political  revolution 
is  still  heard  throughout  the  land  ;  the  people  have  just  de 
monstrated  that  there  is  a  point  beyond  which  they  cannot  be 
led  by  blind  partisanship,  and  that  they  are  quite  competent  to 
examine  and  correctly  decide  political  questions  concerning 
their  rights  and  their  welfare.  They  have  unmercifully  re 
sented  every  attack  upon  true  American  manhood,  and  have 
taught  party  leaders  that,  though  slow  to  anger,  they  take  terri 
ble  revenges  when  betrayed.  They  permit  us  to  forgive 
our  honored  guest  for  all  the  cheap  coats  he  has  ever 
worn,  for  they  have  declared  them  to  be  in  fashion.  They 
have  also  decreed  that  the  Decalogue  has  a  place  in  our 
politics,  for  they  enforced  the  command,  ''Thou  shalt  not 


TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       255 

steal,"  and  rendered  an  emphatic  verdict  against  those  who 
have  borne  false  witness. 

Nothing  could  so  well  accompany  the  honors  we  pay  our 
distinguished  guest  as  the  celebration  on  his  birthday  of  the 
victory  which  has  just  been  achieved  in  vindication  of  Ameri 
can  citizenship — for  in  him  we  honor  the  man  who  has  best 
illustrated  true  American  manhood.  Our  rejoicing  and  his 
are  increased,  as  we  also  celebrate  to-night  the  triumph  of  a 
Democratic  principle  for  which  he  fought  and  fell  but  two 
short  years  ago  ;  and  to  complete  our  joy  and  his,  we  are  per 
mitted  to  indulge  in  true  Democratic  enthusiasm  over  the 
steadfastness  and  devotion  to  its  creed  exhibited  by  our  party, 
which,  knowing  no  discouragement,  has  fought  to  victory  in  the 
people's  cause. 

Who  can  now  doubt  our  countrymen's  appreciation  of  that 
trait,  so  well  illustrated  in  the  character  of  Allen  G.  Thurman, 
which  prompted  him  throughout  his  long  career,  at  all  times  and 
in  all  circumstances,  and  without  regard  to  personal  conse 
quences,  to  do  the  things  which  his  conscience  and  judgment 
approved,  and  which  seemed  to  him  to  be  in  the  interests  of  his 
country  and  in  accordance  with  the  Democratic  faith  ?  Who 
can  now  doubt  that  conscience  and  courage  point  out  the  way 
to  public  duty  ? 

If  we  entertain  more  solemn  thoughts  on  this  occasion,  let 
them  be  concerning  the  responsibility  which  awaits  us  as  our 
fellow-countrymen  place  in  our  keeping  their  hopes  and  their 
trust.  We  shall  fail  in  our  obligation  to  them  if  we  stifle  con 
science  and  duty  by  ignoble  partisanship  ;  but  we  shall  meet 
every  patriotic  expectation  if,  in  all  we  do,  we  follow  the  guid 
ance  of  true  and  honest  Democracy,  illumined  by  the  light  of 
genuine  American  citizenship. 


256       TO  POLITICAL   CLVBJS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

IV. 

THE  CAMPAIGN  OK  EDUCATION.* 
MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

U.  suppose  1  have  a  correct  understanding;  of  what  is  meant 
by  "  The  Campaign  of  Education."     Assuming  this  to  be  so,  1 
desire,  before  going  further,  to  acknowledge  the  valiant  services 
in  this  campaign  j)J^ the  organization  whose  invitation  brings 
us  together  to-night.\   1  may  be   permitted,   I   hope,    to   make 
this  acknowledgment  as  a  citizen  interested  in   all  that   prom 
ises  the  increased   prosperity  of  the  country  ;  and  I  shall  also 
venture  to  do  so  as  a  Democrat  who  recognizes,  in  the  princi 
ple  for  which  the  campaign  has  thus  far  proceeded,  a  cardinal 
and  vital   doctrine   of   Democratic  creed.     If  I  thus  acknowl 
edge  the  useful  services,   in  a   Democratic  cause,  of  any  who 
have  not  claimed  long  affiliation  with  my  party,  I  feel  that  my 
Democratic  allegiance  is  strong  enough  to  survive  such  an  in 
dulgence  in  fairness  and  decency.     I  am,  too,  at  all  times  will 
ing  that   the  Democratic   party  should  be  enlarged  ;  and,  as 
tending  in  that  direction,  I  am  willing  to  accept  and  acknowl 
edge  in  good  faith  honest  help  from  any  quarter  when  a  strug 
gle  is  pending  for  the  supremacy  of  Democratic  principles. 
^Indeed,  I  have  an  idea  that,  in  the  campaign  of   education,  it 
was  deemed  important  to  appeal  to  the  reason  and  judgment 
of  the  American  people,  to  the  end  that  the  Democratic  party 
should  be  reinforced  as  well  as  that  the  activity  and  zeal  of 
those  already  in  our  ranks  should  be  stimulated^  If  this  be 
treason  in  the  sight  or  those  who,  clothed  in  Democratic  uniform, 
would  be  glad  to  stand  at  the  entrance  of  our  camp  and  drive 
back  recruits,  I  cannot   help   it.     I   have  come   here  to-night, 
among  other  things,  to  rejoice  in  the  numerous  accessions  we 
have  received  in  aid  of  Democratic  endeavor  and  to  give  credit 
wherever  it  is  due  for  the  work  of  conversion. 

*  Tn  response  to  the  Toast,  "  The  Campaign  of  Education  :  its  result 
is  a  signal  tribute  to  the  judgment  of  the  American  people,"  delivered  at  the 
Reform  Club  Dinner,  New  York,  December  23,  1890. 


TO  POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       257 

The  grand  and  ultimate  object  of  the  campaign  of  educa 
tion  was  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  the  country  and  the 
relief  of  the  people  from  unjust  burdens.  In  aid  of  this  pur 
pose  and,  of  course,  subordinate  and  accessory  to  its  accom 
plishment,  it  became  necessary,  first  of  all,  to  arouse  the  Demo 
cratic  organization  to  an  apprehension  of  the  fact  that  the 
campaign  involved  a  Democratic  principle,  in  the  advocacy  of 
which  the  party  should  be  active  and  aggressive. 

Let  it  be  here  confessed  that  we,  as  a  party,  had,  in  these 
latter  days,  been  tempted  by  the  successes  our  opponents  had 
gained  solely  by  temporary  shifts  and  by  appeals  to  prejudice 
and  selfish  interests,  into  paths  which  avoided  too  much  the 
honest  insistence  upon  definite  and  clearly  defined  principle 
and  fundamental  Democratic  doctrine.  To  be  sure,  some 
earnest  men  in  the  party  could  but  ill  conceal  their  dissatisfac 
tion  with  the  manner  in  which  cardinal  principles  were  rele 
gated  to  the  rear  and  expediency  substituted  as  the  hope  of 
success  ;  but  the  timid,  the  heedless,  and  those  who,  though 
nominally  belonging  to  the  organization,  were  not  of  the  faith, 
constantly  rendered  ineffective  all  attempts  to  restore  the  party 
to  the  firm  and  solid  ground  of  Democratic  creed. 

If  these  things  are  confessed,  let  it  also  be  conceded  that 
when  the  time  came  and  the  cries  of  a  suffering  people  were 
heard,  and  when,  for  their  relief,  a  genuine  Democratic  remedy 
was  proposed,  the  party  easily  recognized  its  duty  and  gave 
proof  of  its  unconquerable  Democratic  instincts.  As  soon  as 
the  campaign  of  education  was  inaugurated,  the  party  was 
quickly  marshaled  as  of  the  olden  time,  aggressive,  coura 
geous,  devoted  to  its  cause  and  heedless  of  discouragement  or 
defeat.  Day  by  day,  and  hour  by  hour,  expediency  and  time 
serving  were  thrown  to  the  winds.  Traitors  were  silenced, 
camp-followers  fell  away  or  joined  the  scurvy  band  of  floaters, 
while  the  sturdy  Democratic  host  confidently  pressed  on,  bear 
ing  aloft  the  banner  of  tariff  reform.  If  any  have  wondered 
in  the  past  at  the  tenacity  and  indestructibility  of  our  party, 
their  wonder  should  gease  when,  in  the  light  pf  the  last  three 


258        TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND    ORGANIZATIONS. 

years,  it  is  seen  how  gloriously  it  springs  to  the  front  at  the 
call  of  duty  to  the  people,  and  in  obedience  to  the  summons 
of  party  loyalty  and  obligiition. 

Tli us  the  education  of  the  campaign  meant,  as  related  to 
the  Democracy,  its  awakening  in  response  to  the  signal  for  its 
return  to  the  propagandism  of  Democratic  doctrine. 

The  thoroughly  aroused  enthusiasm  and  determination  of 
the  party,  and  its  allied  thousands  of  good  and  earnest  men, 
drawn  from  the  non-partisan  intelligence  and  honesty  of  the 
land,  saw  no  obstacle  too  formidable  for  attack  and  no  end 
which  was  not  within  their  reach.  In  a  sublime  confidence, 
almost  amounting  to  audacity,  they  were  willing  to  attempt 
the  education  of  those  high  in  the  counsels  of  the  Republican 
party,  and  those  who  formulated  that  party's  policy,  so  far  as 
such  a  thing  existed. 

I  am  afraid,  however,  that  if  this  task  may  be  considered  a 
step  in  the  campaign  of  education,  the  word  education,  as  ap 
plied  to  those  who  were  to  be  affected,  must  be  construed  as 
meaning  the  instillation  of  such  fear  and  terror  in  the  minds  of 
unregenerate  men  as  leads  them  to  flee  from  the  wrath  to  come. 

But  even  in  this  unpromising  field  we  are  able  to  report 
progress.  No  one  who  remembers  the  hilarity  with  which  the 
leaders  of  the  Republican  party  greeted  the  message  of  tariff 
reform,  and  the  confidence  with  which  they  prepared  to  meet 
and  crush  the  issue  presented,  can  fail  to  see  how  useful  a  les 
son  has  been  taught  them  in  our  campaign  of  education. 

Within  twenty-four  hours  after  the  submission  to  Congress 
of  the  question  of  tariff  reform,  sundry  Senators  and  Repre 
sentatives  belonging  to  the  Republican  party  were  reported  to 
have  ventilated  their  partisan  exultation  jauntily  in  the  public 
press. 

If  it  be  true  that  a  Senator  from  Nebraska  said,  "  It  is  a  big 
card  for  the  Republicans,"  this  big  card  cannot  appear  remark 
ably  useful  to  him  now,  for  his  State  to-day  contains  a  big 
curiosity  in  the  shape  of  a  Democratic  Governor-elect. 

If  the  junior  Senator  from  New  York  declared  that  his  party 


TO  POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       259 

would  carry  this  State  by  the  largest  majority  ever  known  if 
they  could  be  given  the  platform  proposed,  the  reply  will  come 
when,  in  a  few  days,  a  Democratic  colleague  is  placed  by  his  side. 

If  a  Senator  from  Maine  declared,  "  It  is  a  good  enough 
platform  for  the  Republicans — we  want  nothing  better,"  how 
is  it  that  he  is  now  so  diligently  endeavoring  to  find  out  the 
meaning  of  the  word  Reciprocity  ? 

If  a  New  Hampshire  Senator  believed  that  "  the  Republi 
cans  want  nothing  better  with  which  to  sweep  the  country," 
the  trouble  his  State  is  giving  him  to-day  must  lead  him  to 
suspect  there  is  a  mistake  somewhere. 

If  a  Senator  from  Wisconsin  gleefully  said  he  was  glad  to 
see  us  "  show  our  hand  "  he  cannot  fail  to  be  convinced,  when 
he  soon  gives  place  to  a  real  good,  sound  Democrat,  that  there 
was,  after  all,  more  in  the  hand  than  he  cared  to  see. 

If  the  present  Speaker  of  the  House  sarcastically  said,  "  It 
only  shows  what  fools  all  the  other  Presidents  have  been,"  he 
may  well  be  excused,  since  he  has  lately  so  thoroughly  learned, 
that,  in  the  sight  of  the  people,  infallibility  is  not  an  attribute 
always  to  be  found  in  the  Speaker's  chair. 

If  the  Representative  from  Ohio  whose  name  is  associated 
with  a  bill  which  has  given  his  party  considerable  trouble  of 
late,  said, "  If  the  Democratic  party  had  hired  Burchard  to  write 
a  stump  speech  it  could  not  have  suited  us  better,"  it  must  be 
that  circumstances  leading  to  his  approaching  retirement  from 
public  life  have  suggested  a  modification  of  his  judgment,  and 
caused  him  to  suspect  that  Mr.  Burchard  has  at  least  one  formid 
able  competitor. 

As  our  campaign  has  proceeded,  other  unusual  symptoms 
have  been  apparent  among  those  prominent  in  directing  the 
opposition.  Some  of  them  have  become  insubordinate  and 
discontented,  and  at  times  actually  disobedient  to  party  orders. 
Some  have  left  the  ship.  One  shrewd  and  weather-wise  navi 
gator  has  clambered  off,  and,  in  a  frail  bark,  with  the  word 
"Reciprocity"  painted  on  its  stern,  was  last  seen  hovering 
near,  prepared  to  climb  aboard  again,  or  sail  away,  as  wind 


260        TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

and  wave  would  appear  to  make  most  safe.  At  the  present 
stage  of  the  campaign  the  unwieldy  party  hulk  of  Bourbon 
Republicanism  is  still  afloat,  but  damaged  and  badly  leaking. 
On  board,  some  are  still  working  at  the  pumps  against  the 
awful  odds  of  opening  seams  ;  many,  mutinous  and  discon 
tented,  short  of  provisions  and  of  grog,  are  loudly  and  angrily 
disputing  as  to  whether  bad  seamanship  or  overloading  is  the 
cause  of  their  wretched  plight,  while  accusations  of  guilty  re 
sponsibility  are  heard  on  every  side.  If,  from  this  turbulence, 
there  shall  emerge  any  who,  actually  pricked  in  conscience, 
desire  a  better  life,  they  will  be  gladly  welcomed.  I  cannot, 
however,  keep  out  of  my  mind  the  story  of  the  pious  deacon 
who,  having,  in  his  efforts  to  convert  a  bad  sinner,  become  so 
excited  by  his  incorrigibility  that  he  gave  him  a  thorough 
drubbing,  afterward  explained  and  justified  his  course  by  de 
claring  that  he  believed  he  had  "  walloped  saving  grace  into 
an  impenitent  soul." 

Of  course,  we  do  not  overlook  the  fact  that  before  their  pres 
ent  predicament  was  reached,  and  in  their  first  battle  with  us, 
the  enemy  gained  a  victory  over  tariff  reform.  This  is  con 
fessed  ;  and  we  may  here  only  refer  to  the  methods  by  which 
that  victory  was  gained  for  the  purpose  of  saying  that  we 
thoroughly  understand  them,  and  that  if  the  beneficiaries  of 
those  methods  are  satisfied  with  the  condition  they  have 
wrought,  we  also  are  not  without  compensation.  That  we 
have  cause  for  satisfaction,  even  in  the  remembrance  of  tem 
porary  defeat,  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  among  those  who 
ought  to  rejoice  in  success  there  is  quite  a  general  sentiment 
that  "  the  least  said  of  it  the  better." 

I  have  spoken  of  the  campaign  of  education  as  it  has  af 
fected  the  two  great  party  organizations.  It  remains  to  men 
tion  another  and  a  more  important  and  gratifying  feature  of 
its  progress.  I  refer  to  the  manner  in  which  access  has  been 
gained  to  the  plain  people  of  the  land,  and  the  submission  to 
their  reason  and  judgment  of  the  objects  and  purposes  for 
which  the  campaign  was  undertaken, 


TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       261 

Vjhe  Democratic  party  is  willing  to  trust  the  ordinary  intel 
ligence  of  our  people  for  an  understanding  of  its  principles. 
It  does  not  seat  itself  above  the  common  feelings  and  sympa 
thies  of  humanity,  and  in  an  arrogant  assumption  of  superior 
learning  formulate  political  doctrines  suited  only  to  those 
favored  with  advanced  educational  opportunities.  It  recog 
nized  the  fact  at  the  outset  of  the  campaign  of  education 
that  it  was  not  the  ignorance  of  the  people  which  had  led 
them  to  submit  to  the  evils  of  bad  government,  but  that  it 
was  partly  owing  to  the  busy  activity  of  their  occupations,  and 
the  consequent  neglect  of  political  subjects,  and  partly  to  the 
rigidity  of  their  party  ties  and  their  unquestioning  confidence 
in  party  leadership.  Having  once  settled  upon  their  political 
affiliations,  they  have  been  wont  to  turn  from  a  watchfulness 
of  public  affairs  to  the  daily  routine  of  their  labor  with  much 
virtuous  satisfaction  in  the  reflection  that  they  were  not 
politicians. 

Therefore  the  labor  of  their  education  in  the  campaign  has 
consisted  in  persuading  them  to  hear  us  ;  to  examine  the 
theories  in  party  organizations  and  the  ends  to  which  they 
lead  ;  to  recall  the  promises  of  political  leadership  and  the 
manner  in  which  such  promises  have  been'  redeemed  ;  and  to 
counsel  with  us  as  to  the  means  by  which  their  condition  could 
be  improved. 

Never  was  more  intelligent,  honest,  and  effective  effort  made 
in  a  noble  cause  than  that  made  by  the  Democratic  party  and 
its  allies  in  this  work.  Our  fellow-countrymen  were  ap 
proached,  not  by  fabricated  extracts  from  English  journals 
and  a  lying  demagogic  cry  of  British  gold  ;  not  by  fraudulent 
pictures  of  the  ruin  of  American  industries  if  the  justice  of 
governmental  favoritism  was  questioned  ;  not  by  a  false  pre 
sentation  of  the  impoverishment  and  distress  of  our  laboring 
men  which  would  follow  their  independent  political  thought  and 
action  ;  not  by  a  disgraceful  proposition  for  the  purchase  of 
their  suffrages  ;  and  not  by  the  cruel  intimidation,  by  selfish 
employers,  of  those  dependent  on  them  for  the  wages  of  their  toil 


262        TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

We  have  been  content  to  rely  upon  the  intelligence  and 
thoughtful  ness  of  the  people  for  the  success  of  our  cause. 
We  have  solicited  the  most  thorough  examination  of  its 
merits.  For  the  purpose  of  such  examination  we  have  put 
before  the  people  plain  and  honest  exposition  of  the  justice 
and  beneficence*  of  our  principle.  This  has  been  done  by 
the  systematic  and  industrious  distribution  of  tariff  reform 
literature,  by  the  effective  and  conscientious  arguments  of  a 
well-informed  and  unsubsidized  press,  and  by  an  extensive 
discussion  on  the  platform  of  the  question  involved. 

These  are  the  weapons  we  have  used  in  our  campaign  of 
education.  It  is  a  cause  of  congratulation  to-night  that  our 
work  has  been  done  in  a  manner  so  decent,  and  in  its  best 
sense  so  purely  American. 

Need  I  speak  of  the  results  of  our  labors  ?  This  happy 
assemblage,  called  together  "  To  celebrate  the  victories 
achieved  in  the  cause  of  tariff  reform,"  tells  the  story  of  our 
success. 

We  will  rejoice  to-night,  not  only  in  our  success  and  the 
manner  of  its  achievement,  but  as  American  citizens  we  will 
especially  rejoice  in  the  proof  which  our  victory  affords  of  the 
intelligence,  the  integrity,  and  the  patriotism  of  our  fellow- 
countrymen.  We  have  again  learned  that,  when  roused  to 
thought  and  action,  they  can  be  trusted  to  determine  rightly 
any  questions  involving  their  interests  and  the  welfare  of  their 
country. 

Let  us  not  fail  to  realize  the  fact  that  our  work  is  not  done. 
Our  enemies  are  still  alive,  and  have  grown  desperate.  Human 
selfishness  is  not  easily  overcome,  and  the  hope  of  private  gain 
at  the  expense  of  the  masses  of  our  people  is  not  yet  aban 
doned.  It  would  be  shameful,  and  a  pitiable  disgrace,  if  by 
over-confidence  we  should  lose  the  ground  we  have  gained, 
or  if  we  should  fail  to  push  further  our  advantage.  The 
result  of  our  labor  thus  far  is,  indeed,  "  a  signal  tribute  to  the 
judgment  of  the  American  people."  In  full  faith  in  this  judg 
ment  our  work  should  continue  upon  the  lines  thus  far  followed 


TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       263 

until  the  enemies  of  tariff  reform  are  driven  from  their  last 
intrenchment.  As  the  people  have  trusted  us,  let  us,  above  all 
things,  be  true  to  them.  Let  the  light  of  our  campaign  be 
carried  into  every  part  of  the  land  where  it  has  not  been  seen  ; 
and  where  it  has  been  kindled  let  it  be  kept  brightly  burning, 
still  showing  the  way  to  better  days  for  the  people,  and  dis 
closing  the  plans  of  insidious  foes. 

In  the  years  to  come,,  when  we  look  back  with  patriotic 
satisfaction  upon  our  participation  in  the  glorious  struggle  for 
tariff  reform  and  recall  its  happy  termination,  it  will  delight 
us  to  remember  every  incident  of  discouragement  as  well  as 
of  triumph  in  the  people's  cause.  Then,  when  we  are  asked 
to  speak  of  our  proudest  political  endeavor,  and  to  give  the 
best  illustrations  of  American  intelligence,  and  to  pay  the 
highest  tribute  to  the  judgment  of  the  American  people,  we  will 
rehearse  the  history  and  the  grand  result  of  "  the  campaign 
of  education." 


V. 

THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    TRUE    DEMOCRACY.* 

MR.   PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

As  I  rise  to  respond  to  the  sentiment  which  has  been  assigned 
to  me,  I  cannot  avoid  the  impression  made  upon  my  mind  by 
the  announcement  of  the  words  "True  Democracy. ' '  I  believe 
them  to  mean  a  sober  conviction  or  conclusion  touching  politi 
cal  topics,  which,  formulated  into  a  political  belief  or  creed, 
inspires  a  patriotic  performance  of  the  duties  of  citizenship.  I 
am  satisfied  that  the  principles  of  this  belief  or  creed  are  such 
as  underlie  our  free  institutions,  and  that  they  may  be  urged 
upon  our  fellow-countrymen,  because,  in  their  purity  and  integ- 

*  A  speech  in  response  to  the  toast:  "The  Principles  of  True  Democ 
racy  :  They  are  Enduring  because  They  are  Right,  and  Invincible  because 
They  are  Just,"  at  the  banquet  of  the  Young  Men's  Democratic  Associa 
tion,  Philadelphia,  January  8,  1891. 


264       TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

rity,  they  accord  with  the  attachment  of  our  people  for  their 
government  and  their  country.  A  creed  based  upon  such 
principles  is  by  no  means  discredited  because  illusions  and 
perversions  temporarily  prevent  their  popular  acceptance,  any 
more  than  it  can  be  irretrievably  shipwrecked  by  mistakes  made 
in  its  name  or  by  its  prostitution  to  ignoble  purposes.  When 
illusions  are  dispelled,  when  misconceptions  are  rectified,  and 
when  those  who  guide  are  consecrated  to  truth  and  duty,  the 
ark  of  the  people's  safety  will  still  be  discerned  in  the  keeping 
of  those  who  hold  fast  to  the  principles  of  true  democracy. 

These  principles  are  not  uncertain  nor  doubtful.  The  illus 
trious  founder  of  our  party  has  plainly  announced  them. 
They  have  been  reasserted  and  followed  by  a  long  line  of  great 
political  leaders,  and  they  are  quite  familiar.  They  comprise: 
Equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men;  peace,  commerce,  and 
honest  friendship  with  all  nations — entangling  alliance  with 
none;  the  support  of  the  State  governments  in  all  their  rights; 
the  preservation  of  the  general  government  in  its  whole  con 
stitutional  vigor;  a  jealous  care  of  the  right  of  election  by  the 
people;  absolute  acquiescence  in  the  decisions  of  the  majority; 
the  supremacy  of  the  civil  over  the  military  authority;  econ 
omy  in  the  public  expenses;  the  honest  payment  of  our  debts 
and  sacred  preservation  of  the  public  faith;  the  encouragement 
of  agriculture,  and  commerce  as  its  handmaid,  and  freedom  of 
religion,  freedom  of  the  press,  and  freedom  of  the  person. 

The  great  President  and  intrepid  Democratic  leader  whom 
we  especially  honor  to-night,  who  never  relaxed  his  strict 
adherence  to  the  Democratic  faith  nor  faltered  in  his  defense 
of  the  rights  of  the  people  against  all  comers,  found  his  inspi 
ration  and  guidance  in  these  principles.  On  entering  upon 
the  Presidency  he  declared  his  loyalty  to  them;  in  his  long  and 
useful  incumbency  of  that  great  office  he  gloriously  illustrated 
their  value  and  sufficiency ;  and  his  obedience  to  the  doctrines 
of  true  Democracy,  at  all  times  during  his  public  career,  per 
mitted  him  on  his  retirement  to  find  satisfaction  in  the  declara 
tion:  "At  the  moment  when  I  surrender  my  last  public  trust,  I 


TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       265 

leave  this  great  people  prosperous  and  happy  and  in  the  full 
enjoyment  of  liberty  and  peace,  and  honored  and  respected  by 
every  nation  of  the  world." 

Parties  have  come  and  parties  have  gone.  Even  now  the 
leaders  of  the  party  which  faces  in  opposition  the  Demo 
cratic  host,  listen  for  the  footsteps  of  that  death  which  destroys 
parties  false  to  their  trust. 

Touched  by  thine 

The  extortioner's  hard  hand  foregoes  the  gold 
Wrung  from  the  o'erworn  poor. 

Thou,  too,  dost  purge  from  earth  its  horrible 
And  old  idolatries  ;  from  the  proud  fanes, 
Each  to  his  grave,  their  priests  go  out,  till  none 
Is  left  to  teach  their  worship. 

But  there  has  never  been  a  time,  from  Jefferson's  day  to  the 
present  hour,  when  our  party  did  not  exist,  active  and  aggres 
sive  and  prepared  for  heroic  conflict.  Not  all  who  have  fol 
lowed  the  banner  have  been  able  by  a  long  train  of  close 
reasoning  to  demonstrate,  as  an  abstraction,  why  Democratic 
principles  are  best  suited  to  their  wants  and  the  country's 
good;  but  they  have  known  and  felt  that  as  their  government 
was  established  for  the  people,  the  principles  and  the  men 
nearest  to  the  people  and  standing  for  them  could  be  the  safest 
trusted.  Jackson  has  been  in  their  eyes  the  incarnation  of  the 
things  which  Jefferson  declared.  If  they  did  not  understand 
all  that  Jefferson  wrote,  they  saw  and  knew  what  Jackson  did. 
Those  who  insisted  upon  voting  for  Jackson  after  his  death 
felt  sure  that,  whether  their  candidate  was  alive  or  dead,  they 
were  voting  the  ticket  of  true  Democracy.  The  devoted 
political  adherent  of  Jackson  who,  after  his  death,  became 
involved  in  a  dispute  as  to  whether  his  hero  had  gone  to 
Heaven  or  not,  was  prompted  by  Democratic  instinct  when  he 
disposed  of  the  question  by  declaring,  "I  tell  you,  sir,  that  if 
Andrew  Jackson  has  made  up  his  mind  to  go  to  Heaven  you 
may  depend  upon  it  he's  there."  The  single  Democratic  voter 


266        TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

in  more  than  one  town  who,  year  after  year,  deposited  his  single 
Democratic  ballot  undismayed  by  the  number  of  his  misguided 
opponents,  thus  discharged  his  political  duty  with  the  utmost 
pride  and  satisfaction  in  his  Jacksonian  Democracy. 

Democratic  steadfastness  and  enthusiasm,  and  the  satisfaction 
arising  from  our  party  history  and  traditions,  certainly  ought 
not  to  be  discouraged.  But  it  is  hardly  safe  for  us  because  we 
profess  the  true  faith,  and  can  boast  of  distinguished  political 
ancestry,  to  rely  upon  these  things  as  guarantees  of  our  present 
usefulness  as  a  party  organization,  or  to  regard  their  glorifica 
tion  as  surely  making  the  way  easy  to  the  accomplishment  of 
our  political  mission. 

The  Democratic  party,  by  an  intelligent  study  of  existing 
conditions,  should  be  prepared  to  meet  all  the  wants  of  the 
people  as  they  arise,  and  to  furnish  a  remedy  for  every  threat 
ening  evil.  We  may  well  be  proud  of  our  party  membership; 
but  we  cannot  escape  the  duty  which  such  membership  imposes 
upon  us,  to  urge  constantly  upon  our  fellow-citizens  of  this 
day  and  generation  the  sufficiency  of  the  principles  of  true 
Democracy  for  the  protection  of  their  rights  and  the  promotion 
of  their  welfare  and  happiness,  in  all  their  present  diverse  con 
ditions  and  surroundings. 

There  should,  of  course,  be  no  suggestion  that  a  departure 
from  the  time-honored  principles  of  our  party  is  necessary  to 
the  attainment  of  these  objects.  On  the  contrary,  we  should 
constantly  congratulate  ourselves  that  our  party  creed  is  broad 
enough  to  meet  any  emergency  that  can  arise  in  the  life  of  a 
free  nation. 

Thus,  when  we  see  the  functions  of  government  used  to 
enrich  a  favored  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  and  see  also 
its  inevitable  result  in  the  pinching  privation  of  the  poor  and 
the  profuse  extravagance  of  the  rich;  and  when  we  see  in 
operation  an  unjust  tariff  which  banishes  from  many  humble 
homes  the  comforts  of  life,  in  order  that,  in  the  palaces  of 
wealth,  luxury  may  more  abound,  we  turn  to  our  creed  and 
find  that  it  enjoins  "equal  and  exact  justice  to  all  men." 


TO  POLITICAL    CLVfiS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       267 

Then,  if  we  are  well  grounded  in  our  political  faith,  we  will  nOt 
be  deceived,  nor  will  we  permit  others  to  be  deceived,  by  any 
plausible  pretext  or  smooth  sophistry  excusing  the  situation. 
For  our  answer  to  them  all,  we  will  point  to  the  words  which 
condemn  such  inequality  and  injustice,  as  we  prepare  for  the 
encounter  with  wrong,  armed  with  the  weapons  of  true 
Democracy. 

When  we  see  our  farmers  in  distress,  and  know  that  they  are 
not  paying  the  penalty  of  slothfulness  and  mismanagement, 
when  we  see  their  long  hours  of  toil  so  poorly  requited  that  the 
money-lender  eats  out  their  substance,  while  for  everything 
they  need  they  pay  a  tribute  to  the  favorites  of  govern 
mental  care,  we  know  that  all  this  is  far  removed  from  the 
"encouragement  of  agriculture"  which  our  creed  commands. 
We  will  not  violate  our  political  duty  by  forgetting  how  well 
entitled  our  farmers  are  to  our  best  efforts  for  their  restoration 
to  the  independence  of  a  former  time  and  to  the  rewards  of 
better  days. 

When  we  see  the  extravagance  of  public  expenditure  fast 
reaching  the  point  of  reckless  waste,  and  the  undeserved  dis 
tribution  of  public  money  debauching  its  recipients,  and  by 
pernicious  example  threatening  the  destruction  of  the  love  of 
frugality  among  our  people,  we  will  remember  that  "economy 
in  the  public  expense  "  is  an  important  article  in  the  true 
Democratic  faith. 

When  we  see  our  political  adversaries  bent  upon  the  passage 
of  a  Federal  law,  with  the  scarcely  denied  purpose  of  perpetua 
ting  partisan  supremacy,  which  invades  the  States  with  election 
machinery  designed  to  promote  Federal  interference  with  the 
rights  of  the  people  in  the  localities  concerned,  discrediting 
their  honesty  and  fairness,  and  justly  arousing  their  jealousy  of 
centralized  power,  we  will  stubbornly  resist  such  a  dangerous 
and  revolutionary  scheme,  in  obedience  to  our  pledge  for  "the 
support  of  the  State  governments  in  all  their  rights." 

Under  anti- Democratic  encouragement  we  have  seen  a  con 
stantly  increasing  selfishness  attach  to  our  political  affairs.  A 


268          TO  POLITICAL  CLUBS  AND  ORGANIZATIONS. 

departure  from  the  sound  and  safe  theory  that  the  people 
should  support  the  government  for  the  sake  of  the  benefits 
resulting  to  all,  has  bred  a  sentiment  manifesting  itself  with 
astounding  boldness,  that  the  government  may  be  enlisted  in 
the  furtherance  and  advantage  of  private  interests,  through 
their  willing  agents  in  public  place.  Such  an  abandonment  of 
the  idea  of  patriotic  political  action  on  the  part  of  these  inter 
ests,  has  naturally  led  to  an  estimate  of  the  people's  franchise 
so  degrading  that  it  has  been  openly  and  palpably  debauched 
for  the  promotion  of  selfish  schemes.  Money  is  invested  in 
the  purchase  of  votes  with  the  deliberate  calculation  that  it 
will  yield  a  profitable  return  in  results  advantageous  to  the 
investor.  Another  crime  akin  to  this  in  motive  and  design  is 
the  intimidation  by  employers  of  the  voters  dependent  upon 
them  for  work  and  bread. 

Nothing  could  be  more  hateful  to  true  and  genuine  Democ 
racy  than  such  offenses  against  our  free  institutions.  In  several 
of  the  States  the  honest  sentiment  of  the  party  has  asserted  itself, 
in  the  support  of  every  plan  proposed  for  the  rectification  of 
this  terrible  wrong.  To  fail  in  such  support  would  be  to  violate 
that  principle  in  the  creed  of  true  Democracy  which  com 
mands  "  a  jealous  care  of  the  right  of  election  by  the  people," 
for  certainly  no  one  can  claim  that  suffrages  purchased  or  cast 
under  the  stress  of  threat  or  intimidation  represent  the  right 
of  election  by  the  people. 

Since  a  free  and  unpolluted  ballot  must  be  conceded  as 
absolutely  essential  to  the  maintenance  of  our  free  institutions, 
I  may  perhaps  be  permitted  to  express  the  hope  that  the  State 
of  Pennsylvania  will  not  long  remain  behind  her  sister  States 
in  adopting  an  effective  plan  to  protect  her  people's  suffrage. 
In  any  event  the  Democracy  of  the  State  can  find  no  justifica 
tion  in  party  principle,  nor  in  party  traditions,  nor  in  a  just 
apprehension  of  Democratic  duty,  for  a  failure  earnestly  to 
support  and  advocate  ballot  reform. 

1  have  thus  far  attempted  to  state  some  of  the  principles  of 
true  Democracy,  and  their  application  to  present  conditions. 


TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       269 

Their  enduring  character  and  their  constant  influence  upon 
those  who  profess  our  faith  have  also  been  suggested.  If  I 
were  now  asked  why  they  have  so  endured  and  why  they  have 
been  invincible,  I  should  reply  in  the  words  of  the  sentiment 
to  which  I  respond:  "They  are  enduring  because  they  are 
right,  and  invincible  because  they  are  just." 

I  believe  that  among  our  people  the  ideas  which  endure,  and 
.vhich  inspire  warm  attachment  and  devotion,  are  those  having 
some  elements  which   appeal  to  the  moral  sense.     When  men 
are  satisfied  that  a  principle   is  morally  right,  they  become  its 
adherents    for    all  time.      There  is  sometimes   a  discouraging 
distance  between  what  our  fellow-countrymen  believe  and  what 
they  do,  in   such  a  case;  but  their  action   in  accordance  with 
their  belief  may  always  be  confidently  expected  in  good  time. 
A  government  for  the  people  and  by  the  people  is  everlastingly 
right.     As  surely  as  this  is  true  so  surely  is  it  true  that  party 
principles  which  advocate  the  absolute  equality  of  American 
manhood,  and  an  equal  participation  by  all  the  people  in  the 
management  of  their  government,  and  in  the  benefit  and  pro 
tection    which  it    affords,    are    also   right.      Here   is    common 
ground  where  the  best  educated  thought  and  reason  may  meet 
the  most  impulsive  and  instinctive  Americanism.     It  is  right 
that  every  man  should  enjoy  the  result  of  his  labor  to  the  fullest 
extent  consistent  with  his  membership  in  civilized  community. 
It  is  right  that  our  government  should  be  but  the  instrument 
of  the  people's  will,  and  that  its  cost  should  be  limited  within 
the  lines  of  strict  economy.      It  is  right  that  the  influence  of 
the  government  should  be  known  in  every  humble  home  as  the 
guardian  of  frugal  comfort  and  content,  and  a  defense  against 
unjust  exactions,  and  the  unearned  tribute  persistently  coveted 
by  the  selfish   and  designing.      It  is  right  that   efficiency   and 
honesty  in  public  service  should  not  be  sacrificed  to  partisan 
greed;  and  it  is  right  that  the  suffrage  of  our  people  should 
be  pure  and  free. 

The  belief  in   these  propositions,  as  moral  truths,  is   nearly 
universal    among  our   countrymen.     We  are   mistaken   if   we 


270        TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

suppose  the  time  is  distant  when  the  clouds  of  selfishness  and 
perversion  will  be  dispelled  and  their  conscientious  belief  will 
become  the  chief  motive  force  in  the  political  action  of  the 
people. 

I  understand  all  these  truths  to  be  included  in  the  principles 
of  true  Democracy.  If  we  have  not  at  all  times  trusted  as 
implicitly  as  we  ought  to  the  love  our  people  have  for  the 
right,  in  political  action,  or  if  we  have  not  always  relied 
sufficiently  upon  the  sturdy  advocacy. of  the  best  things  which 
belong  to  our  party  faith,  these  have  been  temporary  aberra 
tions  which  have  furnished  their  inevitable  warning. 

We  are  permitted  to  contemplate  to-night  the  latest  demon 
stration  of  the  people's  appreciation  of  the  right,  and  of  the 
acceptance  they  accord  to  Democratic  doctrine  when  honestly 
presented.  In  the  campaign  which  has  just  closed  with  such 
glorious  results,  while  party  managers  were  anticipating  the 
issue  in  the  light  of  the  continued  illusion  of  the  people,  the 
people  themselves  and  for  themselves  were  considering  the 
question  of  right  and  justice.  They  have  spoken,  and  the 
Democracy  of  the  land  rejoice. 

In  the  signs  of  the  times  and  in  the  result  of  their  late  State 
campaign,  the  Democracy  of  Pennsylvania  must  find  hope  and 
inspiration.  Nowhere  has  the  sensitiveness  of  the  people,  on 
questions  involving  right  and  wrong,  been  better  illustrated  than 
here.  At  the  head  of  your  State  government  there  will  soon 
stand  a  disciple  of  true  Democracy,  elected  by  voters  who 
would  have  the  right  and  not  the  wrong  when  their  consciences 
were  touched.  Though  there  have  existed  here  conditions  and 
influences  not  altogether  favorable  to  an  unselfish  apprehen 
sion  of  the  moral  attributes  of  political  doctrine,  I  believe  that 
if  these  features  of  the  principles  of  true  Democracy  are  per- 
sistently  advocated,  the  time  will  speedily  come  when,  as  in  a 
day,  the  patriotic  hearts  of  the  people  of  your  great  Common 
wealth  will  be  stirred  to  the  support  of  our  cause. 

It  remains  to  say  that,  in  the  midst  of  our  rejoicing  and  in 
the  time  of  party  hope  and  expectation,  we  should  remember 


TO  POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.        271 

that  the  way  of  right  and  justice  should  be  followed  as  a  matter 
of  duty  and  regardless  of  immediate  success.  Above  all  things 
let  us  not  for  a  moment  forget  that  grave  responsibilities  await 
the  party  which  the  people  trust ;  and  let  us  look  for  guidance 
to  the  principles  of  true  Democracy,  which  "are  enduring 
because  they  are  right,  and  invincible  because  they  are  just." 


VI. 

At  the  Democratic  Club,  New    York,  April  13,   1891. 

MR.   PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

I  desire,  first  of  all,  to  express  my  thanks  to  the  promoters  of 
this  occasion,  for  the  pleasure  which  a  place  in  this  goodly 
company  affords  me,  and  to  congratulate  the  Democratic  Club 
upon  the  indication  of  prosperity  and  enterprise  supplied  by  its 
ownership  of  this  beautiful  and  commodious  house.  The 
maintenance  of  such  a  center  for  the  cultivation  and  dissem 
ination  of  true  Democratic  principles,  together  with  the  activity 
and  earnestness  of  members  of  the  club,  furnish  the  most 
gratifying  evidence  that  those  who  abide  here  fully  realize  the 
value  and  importance  of  unremitting  political  endeavor  and 
thorough  organization  in  behalf  of  true  Democracy. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  atmosphere  which  pervades  this 
place  is  ill-suited  to  selfish  and  ignoble  designs;  and  I  feel  at 
this  moment  that  I  am  surrounded  by  influences  which  invite 
patriotic  partisanship  and  disinterested  devotion  to  party  prin 
ciples.  This  sensation  is  most  agreeable — for  I  am  glad  to  be 
called  a  partisan  if  my  partisanship  is  patriotic.  If  a  partisan 
is  correctly  defined  as  "one  who  is  violently  and  passionately 
devoted  to  a  party  or  interest,"  I  must  plead  guilty  to  the 
charge  of  being  a  Democratic  partisan,  so  long  as  the  Democ 
racy  is  true  to  its  creed  and  traditions,  and  so  long  as  condi 
tions  exist  which,  to  my  understanding,  make  adherence  to  its 
doctrines  synonymous  with  patriotism. 


272        TO    POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND    ORGANIZATIONS. 

It  is. a  glorious  thing  to  belong  to  a  party  which  has  a  history 
beginning  with  the  first  years  of  our  government,  and  full  of 
achievements  interwoven  with  all  that  has  made  our  country 
great  and  kept  our  people  free.  It  is  an  inspiring  thing  to 
know  that  by  virtue  of  our  party  membership  we  are  associated 
with  those  who  resist  the  attempt  of  arrogant  political  power 
to  interfere  with  the  independence  and  integrity  of  popular 
suffrage,  who  are  determined  to  relieve  our  countrymen  from 
unjust  and  unnecessary  burdens,  who  are  intent  upon  checking 
extravagance  in  public  expenditures,  and  who  test  party  pur 
poses  by  their  usefulness  in  promoting  the  interests  and  welfare 
of  all  the  people  of  the  land. 

These  considerations  furnish  to  those  who  love  their  country 
the  highest  and  best  incentives  to  constant  and  faithful  effort 
in  the  cause  of  true  Democracy. 

We  are  reminded  on  this  occasion  that  we  not  only  have  a 
proud  history  and  glorious  traditions,  but  that  our  party  had  an 
illustrious  founder,  whose  services  and  teachings  have  done  as 
much  to  justify  and  make  successful  our  government  by  the 
people  and  for  the  people,  as  any  American  who  ever  lived.  A 
claim  to  such  political  ancestry  is,  of  itself,  sufficient  to  lend 
honor  and  pride  to  membership  in  a  party  which  preserves  in  • 
their  vigor  and  purity  the  principles  of  that  Democracy  which 
was  established  by  Thomas  Jefferson. 

These  principles  were  not  invented  for  the  purpose  of  gain 
ing  popular  assent  for  a  day,  nor  only  because  they  were  useful 
in  the  early  time  of  the  Republic.  They  were  not  announced 
for  the  purpose  of  serving  personal  ambitions,  nor  merely  for 
the  purpose  of  catching  the  suffrages  of  the  people.  They 
were  laid  as  deep  and  broad  as  the  truths  upon  which  the 
fabric  of  our  government  rested.  In  the  spirit  of  prophecy, 
they  were  formulated  and  declared,  not  only  as  suited  to  the 
experiments  of  a  new  government,  but  as  sufficient  in  every 
struggle  and  every  emergency  which  should  beset  popular  rule, 
in  all  times  to  come  and  in  all  stages  of  our  country's  growth 
and  development. 


TO   POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       273 

The  political  revolution  which  accompanied  the  birth  of  our 
party  was  not  accomplished  while  the  principles  of  Democracy 
were  kept  laid  away  in  a  napkin,  nor  was  the  unanimity  of 
their  first  acceptance  secured  by  the  senseless  and  noisy  shout 
ing  of  partisan  bigotry  and  the  refusal  to  receive  converts  to 
the  faith.  No  man  believed  more  implicitly  in  the  political 
instruction  of  the  people  than  the  great  founder  of  our  party  ; 
and  the  first  triumph  of  Democratic  principles,  under  his  lead 
ership,  was  distinctly  the  result  of  a  campaign  of  education. 
So,  too,  in  the  light  of  our  last  great  victory,  no  man  who 
desires  Democratic  success  will  deny  the  supreme  importance 
of  a  most  thorough  and  systematic  presentation  to  our  fellow- 
citizens  of  the  reasons  which  support  the  avowed  and  accepted 
purposes  of  our  party.  Those  who  now  sneer  at  efforts  in  that 
direction  are  our  enemies — whether  they  confront  us  as  con 
fessed  opponents,  or  whether  they  are  traitors  skulking  within 
our  camp. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  peculiarly  a  time  when  the  Demo 
cratic  party  should  be  mindful  of  its  relations  to  the  country, 
of  its  responsibilities  as  the  guardian  of  sacred  principles,  and 
of  its  duty  to  a  confiding  people.  In  the  rejoicing  which 
success  permits,  let  us  remember  that  the  mission  of  our  party 
is  continued  warfare.  We  cannot  accomplish  what  we  promise 
to  the  people  if  we  allow  ourselves  to  be  diverted  from  the 
perils  which  are  still  in  our  way.  Blindness  to  danger,  and 
neglect  of  party  organization  and  discipline,  are  invitations  to 
defeat.  We  cannot  win  permanent  and  substantial  success  by 
putting  aside  principle  and  grasping  after  temporary  expedi 
ents.  We  shall  court  disaster  if  we  relax  industry  in  com 
mending  to  the  intelligence  of  our  countrymen  the  creed  which 
we  profess;  and  we  tempt  humiliating  failure  and  disgrace 
when  we  encourage  or  tolerate  those  who,  claiming  fellowship 
with  us,  needlessly  and  often  from  the  worst  of  motives,  seek 
to  stir  up  strife  and  sow  discord  in  the  councils  of  our 
party. 

As    we    celebrate    to-night    the    birthday    of    the    father    of 


274        TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

Democracy,  let  us  reinforce  our  Democratic  zeal  and  enthusi 
asm  and  renew  our  faith  and  trust  in  the  aroused  intelligence 
of  our  countrymen.  Let  the  reflections  prompted  by  the 
surroundings  of  this  occasion,  confirm  us  in  the  assurance  that 
we  shall  patriotically  discharge  our  political  duty  and  well 
maintain  our  party  loyalty,  if  in  all  we  do  as  Democrats  we 
bravely  and  consistently  hold  fast  to  the  truths  which  illumine 
the  path  laid  out  by  our  great  guide  and  leader. 


VII. 

Before  the    "  Cleveland   Democracy "  at   Buffalo,  N.    K., 
May   12,    1891. 

MR.   PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

As  1  stand  for  the  first  time  face  to  face  with  the  Cleveland 
Democracy,  I  experience  mingled  emotions  of  responsibility 
and  pride.  My  sense  of  responsibility  arises  from  my  relation 
to  your  organization  as  its  godfather,  and  my  pride  from  the 
noble  manner  in  which  you  have  borne  my  name.  I  acknowl 
edge  your  right  to  require  of  me  at  this  time  an  account  of  the 
manner  in  which  I  have  kept  the  political  faith  to  which  you 
are  devoted.  This  right  grows  out  of  the  fact  that  the  word 
"Democracy,"  as  it  stands  in  the  name  of  your  organiza 
tion,  means  so  much  and  is  so  worthy  of  your  care,  that 
its  significance  should  not  be  in  the  least  clouded  by  any 
prefix  which  is  not  in  keeping  with  Democratic  aims  and  pur 
poses. 

In  giving  an  account  of  my  political  behavior,  I  can  only 
offer  a  record  of  political  conduct  familiar  to  all  my  country 
men,  and  supplement  this  record  by  the  declaration  that  I  have 
done  the  best  I  could  to  deserve  the  confidence  in  me  which 
you  have  so  gracefully  manifested.  For  the  character  of  the 
record  thus  presented,  you  yourselves  are  answerable  with  me 
—for  it  has  been  made  under  the  influence  and  encouragement 


TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.        275 

of  the  sentiments  and  doctrines  which  the  Cleveland  Democ 
racy  have  cultivated  and  enforced.  When  we  started  together 
in  political  life  and  responsibility,  your  accepted  creed  taught 
that  politics  was  something  more  than  adroit  jugglery;  that 
there  was  still  such  a  thing  as  official  duty,  and  that  it  meant 
obligation  to  the  people  ;  that  the  principles  of  our  government 
were  worthy  of  conscientious  study  ;  and  that  the  doctrines  of 
true  Democracy,  honestly  and  bravely  enforced,  promised  the 
greatest  good  to  all  our  countrymen,  and  exacted,  through  the 
length  and  breadth  of  our  land,  impartial  governmental  care 
and  indiscriminating  justice. 

You  were  not  content  to  allow  these  truths  to  remain  with 
you  as  mere  idle  beliefs.  They  supplied  constant  and  aggress 
ive  motives  for  your  political  activity  and  were  your  inspira 
tion  as  you  went  forth  to  do  battle  in  the  Democratic  cause, 
resting  your  hope  of  triumph  upon  an  unwavering  faith  in  the 
thoughtful  and  well-informed  intelligence  of  the  American 
people. 

Thus  you  were  found  doing  valiant  service  in  the  campaign 
of  education.  As  the  smoke  of  the  last  stubbornly  fought 
battle  cleared  away,  no  soldiers  on  the  field  were  found  sur 
rounded  by  more  trophies  of  victory  than  the  forces  of  the 
Cleveland  Democracy. 

Surely  your  rewards  are  most  abundant.  You  have  not 
only  aided  in  the  advancement  of  the  Democratic  standard, 
but  you  have  also  contributed  your  full  share  in  demonstrating 
that  the  people  can  be  trusted  when  aroused  to  though tfulness 
and  duty. 

When  I  suggest  to  you  that  much  sturdy  fighting  still  awaits 
all  those  enlisted  in  the  Democratic  ranks,  I  feel  that  I  am 
speaking  to  veterans  who  have  no  fear  of  hard  campaigning. 
WTe  may  be  sure  that  unless  we  continue  active,  wratchful  war 
fare,  we  shall  lose  what  we  have  gained  in  the  people's  cause. 
Insidious  schemes  are  started  on  every  side  to  allure  them  to 
their  undoing.  Awakened  to  a  sense  of  wrong  and  injustice, 
promises  of  redress  and  benefit  are  held  up  to  their  sight,  "like 


276        TO  POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

Dead  Sea  fruits,  that  tempt  the  eye  but  turn  to  ashes  on  the 
lips."  The  selfish  and  designing  will  not  forego  the  struggle, 
but  will  constantly  seek  to  regain  their  vantage  ground  through 
tempting  fallacies  and  plausible  pretexts  of  friendliness. 

I  believe  the  most  threatening  figure  which  to-day  stands  in 
the  way  of  the  safety  of  our  government  and  the  happiness  of 
our  people,  is  reckless  and  wicked  extravagance  in  our  public 
expenditures.      It  is  the  most  fatal  of  all  the  deadly  brood  born 
of  governmental  perversion.      It   hides  beneath  its  wings  the 
betrayal  of  the  people's  trust,  and  holds  powerless  in  its  fas 
cinating  glance  the  people's  will  and  conscience.      It  brazenly 
exhibits  to-day  a  Billion   Dollar  Congress.     But  lately,  a  large 
surplus  remained  in  the  people's  public  treasury  after  meeting 
all  expenditures,  then  by  no  means  economical.     This  condition 
was  presented  to  the  American  people  as  positive  proof  that 
their  burden  of  taxation  was  unjust  because  unnecessary;  and 
yet,  while  the  popular  protest  is  still  heard,  the  harpy  of  Public 
Extravagance  devours  the  surplus  and  impudently  calls   upon 
its  staggering  victims  to  bring  still   larger  supplies  within  the 
reach  of  its  insatiate  appetite.     A  few  short  years  ago  a  pen 
sion  roll  amounting  to  fifty-three  millions  of  dollars  was  will 
ingly  maintained   by    our  patriotic  citizens.      To-day,  Public 
Extravagance  decrees  that  three  times  that  sum  shall  be  drawn 
from  the  people,  upon  the  pretext  that  its  expenditure  repre 
sents  the   popular  love  of  the  soldier.      Not  many  years  ago  a 
river  and  harbor  bill,  appropriating  eleven  millions  of  dollars, 
gave   rise  to   a  loud  popular   protest.       Now,  Public  Extrava 
gance  commands  an   appropriation  of  twenty-two  millions  for 
the  same  purposes,  and  the  people  are  silent.     To-day,  millions 
are  paid  for  barefaced  subsidy;  and  this  is  approved  or  con 
doned  at  the  behest  of  Public  Extravagance,  and  thus  a  new 
marauder  is  turned  loose,  which,  in  company  with  its  vicious 
tariff   partner,    bears    pilfered    benefit    to    the    households    of 
favored  selfish  interests. 

We  need  not  prolong  the  details.      Turn  where  we  will,  we 
see  the  advance  of  this  devouring  and  destructive  creature. 


TO  POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       277 

Out  Democratic  faith  teaches  us  that  the  useless  exaction  ot 
money  from  the  people,  upon  the  false  pretext  of  public  neces 
sity,  is  the  worst  of  all  governmental  perversions,  and  involves 
the  greatest  of  all  dangers  to  our  guarantees  of  justice  and 
equity.  We  need  not  unlearn  this  lesson  to  apprehend  the  fact 
that  behind  the  fact  that  such  exaction,  and  as  its  source  of 
existence,  is  found  Public  Extravagance.  The  ax  will  not  be 
laid  at  the  root  of  the  unwholesome  tariff  tree,  with  its  vicious 
inequality  and  injustice,  until  we  reach  and  destroy  its  parent 
and  support. 

But  the  growth  of  Public  Extravagance  in  these  latter  days, 
and  its  unconcealed  and  dreadful  manifestations,  force  us  to 
the  contemplation  of  other  crimes,  of  which  it  is  undoubtedly 
guilty,  besides  unjust  exactions  from  the  people. 

Our  government  is  so  ordained  that  its  lifeblood  flows  from 
the  virtue  and  patriotism  of  our  people,  and  its  health  and 
strength  depend  upon  the  integrity  and  faithfulness  of  their 
public  servants.  If  these  are  destroyed,  our  government,  if  it 
endures,  will  endure  only  in  name,  failing  to  bless  those  for 
whom  it  was  created,  and  failing  in  its  mission  as  an  example  to 
mankind. 

Public  Extravagance,  in  its  relation  to  inequitable  tariff  laws, 
not  only  lays  an  unjust  tribute  upon  the  people,  but  is  respon 
sible  for  unfair  advantages  bestowed  upon  special  and  favored 
interests  as  the  price  of  partisan  support.  Thus  the  exercise 
of  the  popular  will,  for  the  benefit  of  the  country  at  large,  is 
replaced  by  sordid  and  selfish  motives  directed  to  personal 
advantage,  while  the  encouragement  of  such  motives,  in  public 
place  for  party  ends,  deadens  the  official  conscience. 

Public  Extravagance  directly  distributes  gifts  and  gratuities 
among  the  people,  whose  toleration  of  waste  is  thus  secured,  or 
whose  past  party  services  are  thus  compensated,  or  who  are  thus 
bribed  to  future  party  support.  This  makes  the  continuance 
of  partisan  power  a  stronger  motive  among  public  servants 
than  the  faithful  discharge  of  the  people's  trust,  and  sows  the 
seeds  of  contagious  corruption  in  the  body  politic. 


278        TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

But  to  my  mind,  the  saddest  and  most  frightful  result  of 
Public  Extravagance  is  seen  in  the  readiness  of  the  masses  of 
our  people,  who  are  not  dishonest,  but  only  heedless,  to  accus 
tom,  themselves  to  that  dereliction  in  public  place  which  it 
involves.  Evidence  is  thus  furnished  that  our  countrymen  are 
in  danger  of  losing  the  scrupulous  insistence  upon  the  faithful 
discharge  of  duty  on  the  part  of  their  public  servants,  the 
regard  for  economy  and  frugality  which  belongs  to  sturdy 
Americanism,  the  independence  which  relies  upon  personal 
endeavor,  and  the  love  of  an  honest  and  well-regulated  gov 
ernment,  all  of  which  lie  at  the  foundation  of  our  free  institu 
tions. 

Have  I  overstated  the  evils  and  dangers  wjth  which  the 
tremendous  growth  of  Public  Extravagance  threatens  us? 
Every  man  who  loves  his  country  well  enough  to  pause  and 
think  of  these  things  must  know  that  I  have  not. 

Let  us,  then,  as  we  push  on  in  our  campaign  of  education, 
especially  impress  upon  our  countrymen  the  lesson  which 
teaches  that  Public  Extravagance  is  a  deadly,  dangerous  thing, 
that  frugality  and  economy  are  honorable,  that  the  virtue  and 
watchfulness  of  the  people  are  the  surest  safeguards  against 
abuses  in  their  government,  and  that  those  who  profess  to 
serve  their  fellow-citizens  in  public  place  must  be  faithful  to 
their  trust. 


VIII. 

Before  the  Business  Mens  Democratic  Association,  New  York, 
January  8,  1892. 

MR.   PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

No  one  can  question  the  propriety  of  the  celebration  of  this 
day  by  the  organization  whose  invitation  has  called  us  together. 
Its  right  to  celebrate  on  this  occasion  results  from  the  fact  that 
it  is  an  organization  attached  to  the  doctrines  of  true  Democ 
racy,  having  a  membership  composed  of  business  men,  who. 


TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS       279 

in  a  disinterested  way,  devote  themselves  to  honest  party  work, 
and  who  labor  for  the  growth  and  spread  of  the  political  prin 
ciples  which  they  profess. 

This  anniversary  has  not  gained  its  place  as  a  festival  day  in 
the  calendar  of  Democracy  by  chance  or  through  unmeaning 
caprice ;  nor  is  it  observed  by  the  Democratic  party  merely 
because  a  battle  was  fought  on  the  8th  day  of  January, 
many  years  ago,  at  New  Orleans.  That  battle  in  itself  had  no 
immediate  political  significance,  and,  considered  solely  as  a 
military  achievement  in  comparison  with  many  other  battles 
fought  by  Americans  both  before  and  since,  it  need  not  be 
regarded  as  an  event  demanding  especial  commemoration. 

*The  Democratic  zest  and  enthusiasm  of  our  celebration  of 
the  day  grow  out  of  the  fact  that  the  battle  of  New  Orleans 
was  won  under  the  generalship  of  Andrew  Jackson.  So,  while 
the  successful  general  in  that  battle  is  not  forgotten  to-night, 
Democrats,  wherever  they  are  assembled  throughout  our  land 
to  celebrate  the  day,  are  honoring  the  hero  who  won  the  battles 
of  Democracy,  and  are  commemorating  the  political  courage 
and  steadfastness  which  were  his  prominent  characteristics. 

It  is  well  that  there  are  occasions  like  this  where  we  may 
manifest  that  love  and  affection  for  Andrew  Jackson  which 
have  a-  place  in  every  Democratic  heart.  It  is  needless  to 
attempt  an  explanation  of  this  love  and  affection.  They  are 
Democratic  instincts.  So  strong  is  our  conviction  that  Jack 
son's  Democracy  derived  its  strength  and  vigor  from  the  stead 
fast  courage,  the  honesty  of  purpose  and  the  sturdy  persistency 
which  characterized  the  man,  that  we  willingly  profess  the 
belief  that  these  same  conditions  are  essential  to  the  usefulness 
and  success  of  the  Democratic  party  in  these  latter  days. 
Thus,  wherever  party  principle  or  policy  may  lead  us,  we  have 
constantly  before  us  an  unquestioned  example  of  the  spirit  in 
which  our  work  should  be  undertaken. 

It  may  not  be  unprofitable  for  us,  at  this  time,  to  recall  some 
incidents  in  the  career  of  Andrew  Jackson,  and  note  their 
bearing  upon  the  position  of  our  party  in  its  present  relations 


280       TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

to  the  people.  We  may  thus  discover  an  incentive  for  the 
cultivation  and  preservation  of  that  Jacksonian  spirit  which 
ought  to  belong  to  Democratic  effort. 

When  General  Jackson  was  sent  with  troops  to  protect  our 
border  against  disturbers  of  the  peace  whose  retreat  was  in  the 
Spanish  province  of  Florida,  he  notified  our  government  that 
if  it  was  signified  to  him  that  the  possession  of  the  Floridas 
would  be  desirable  to  the  United  States,  it  should  be  forthwith 
accomplished.  He  only  believed  he  had  the  assent  of  his 
government,  but  in  that  belief,  and  because  his  word  had  been 
given,  he  never  rested  until  his  military  occupation  of  the 
territory  was  complete. 

The  Democratic  party  has  lately  declared  to  the  people  that 
if  it  was  trusted  and  invested  with  power,  their  burdens  of 
taxation  should  be  lightened,  and  that  a  better  and  more  just 
distribution  of  benefits  should  be  assured  to  them.  There  is 
no  doubt  concerning  our  commission  from  the  people  to  do 
this  work,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  we  have  received  their 
trust  and  confidence  on  the  faith  of  our  promises.  In  these 
circumstances,  there  is  no  sign  of  Jacksonian  determination  and 
persistency  in  faltering  or  hesitating  in  the  cause  we  have 
undertaken.  If  we  accepted  the  trust  and  confidence  of  the 
people  with  any  other  design  than  to  respond  fully  to  them,  we 
have  been  dishonored  from  the  beginning.  If  we  accepted 
them  in  good  faith,  disgrace  and  humiliation  await  us  if  we 
relax  our  efforts  before  the  promised  end  is  reached. 

At  New  Orleans  General  Jackson  attacked  the  enemy  as 
soon  as  they  landed,  and  fought  against  their  making  the  least 
advance.  It  never  occurred  to  him  that  by  yielding  to  them 
a  foot  of  ground,  or  giving  them  a  moment's  rest,  his  oppor 
tunity  to  defeat  them  would  be  promoted. 

We,  who  are  proud  to  call  ourselves  Jacksonian  Democrats, 
have  boldly  and  aggressively  attacked  a  political  heresy  op 
posed  to  the  best  interests  of  the  people  and  defended  by  an 
arrogant  and  unscrupulous  party.  The  fight  is  still  on.  Who 
has  the  hardihood  to  say  that  we  can  lay  claim  to  the  least 


TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       281 

Jacksonian  spirit  if  in  the  struggle  we  turn  our  backs  to  the 
enemy,  or  lower  in  the  least  our  colors? 

President  Jackson  believed  the  United  States  Bank  was  an 
institution  dangerous  to  the  liberties  and  prosperity  of  the 
people.  Once  convinced  of  this,  his  determination  to  destroy 
it  closely  followed.  He  early  began  the  attack,  utterly  regard 
less  of  any  considerations  of  political  expediency  or  personal 
advancement  except  as  they  grew  out  of  his  faith  in  the  people, 
and  giving  no  place  in  his  calculations  for  any  estimate  of  the 
difficulty  of  the  undertaking.  From  the  time  the  first  blow 
was  struck  until  the  contest  ended  in  his  complete  triumph,  he 
allowed  nothing  to  divert  him  from  his  purpose,  and  permitted 
no  other  issue  to  divide  his  energy  or  to  be  substituted  for  that 
on  which  he  was  intent. 

The  Democratic  party  of  to-day,  which  conjures  with  the 
name  of  Jackson,  has  also  attacked  a  monstrous  evil,  intrenched 
behind  a  perversion  of  governmental  power  and  guarded  by  its 
selfish  beneficiaries.  On  behalf  of  those  among  our  people 
long  neglected,  we  have  insisted  on  tariff  reform  and  an  aban 
donment  of  unjust  favoritism.  We  have  thus  adopted  an  issue 
great  enough  to  deserve  the  undivided  efforts  of  our  party, 
involving  considerations  which,  we  profess  to  believe,  lie  at  the 
foundation  of  the  justice  and  fairness  of  popular  rule. 

If  we  are  to  act  upon  our  declared  belief  in  the  power  of  that 
Jacksonian  spirit  which  was  the  inspiration  of  our  party  in  the 
days  of  our  great  leader,  we  shall  be  steadfast  to  the  issue  we 
have  raised  until  it  is  settled  and  rightly  settled.  The  stead 
fastness  we  need  will  not  permit  a  premature  and  distracting 
search  for  other  and  perplexing  questions,  nor  will  it  allow  us 
to  be  tempted  or  driven  by  the  enemy  into  new  and  tangled 
paths. 

We  have  given  pledges  to  the  people,  and  they  have  trusted 
us.  Unless  we  have  outgrown  the  Democratic  spirit  of  Jack 
son's  time,  our  duty  is  plain.  Our  promise  was  not  merely  to 
labor  in  the  people's  cause  until  we  should  tire  of  the  effort,  or 
should  discover  a  way  which  seemed  to  promise  easier  and 


282        TO  POLITICAL    CLUfiS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

quicker  party  ascendency.  The  service  we  undertook  was  not 
to  advise  those  waiting  for  better  days  that  their  cause  was 
hopeless,  nor  under  any  pretext  to  suggest  a  cessation  of  effort. 
Our  engagement  was  to  labor  incessantly,  bravely,  and  stub 
bornly,  seeing  nothing  and  considering  nothing  but  ultimate 
success.  These  pledges  and  promises  should  be  faithfully  and 
honestly  kept.  Party  faithlessness  is  party  dishonor. 

Nor  is  the  sacredness  of  our  pledges,  and  the  party  dishonor 
that  would  follow  their  violation,  all  we  have  to  consider. 
We  cannot  trifle  with  our  obligations  to  the  people  without 
exposure  and  disaster.  We  ourselves  have  aroused  a  spirit  of 
jealous  inquiry  and  discrimination  touching  political  conduct 
which  cannot  be  blinded ;  and  the  people  will  visit  with  quick 
revenge  the  party  which  betrays  them. 

I  hope,  then,  I  may  venture  to  claim  in  this  assemblage  that, 
even  if  there  had  been  but  slight  encouragement  for  the  cause 
we  have  espoused,  there  would  still  be  no  justification  for 
timidity  and  faint-heartedness.  But  with  the  success  we  have 
already  achieved,  amounting  to  a  political  revolution,  it  seems 
to  me  that  it  would  be  the  height  of  folly,  considered  purely  as 
a  question  of  party  management,  to  relax  in  the  least  our 
determination  and  persistency.  If  we  suspect,  anywhere  in 
our  counsels,  compromising  hesitation  or  a  disposition  to  divert 
the  unity  of  party  efforts,  let  us  be  watchful.  The  least  retreat 
bodes  disaster ;  cowardice  is  often  called  conservatism,  and  an 
army  scattered  into  sections  invites  defeat. 

We  have  preached  the  doctrine  that  honesty  and  sincerity 
should  be  exacted  from  political  parties.  Let  us  not  fall  under 
the  condemnation  which  awaits  on  shifty  schemes  and  insin 
cere  professions. 

I  believe  our  countrymen  are  prepared  to  act  on  principle, 
and  in  no  mood  for  political  maneuvering.  They  will  not 
waste  time  in  studying  conundrums,  guessing  riddles,  or  trying 
to  interpret  doubtful  phrases.  They  demand  a  plain  and 
simple  statement  of  political  purpose. 

Above  all  things,  political  finesse  should  not  lead  us  to  for- 


TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       283 

get  that,  at  the  end  of  our  plans,  we  must  meet  face  to  face  at 
the  polls  the  voters  of  the  land,  with  ballots  in  their  hands, 
demanding  as  a  condition  of  their  support  of  our  party  fidelity 
and  undivided  devotion  to  the  cause  in  which  we  have  enlisted 

them. 

If,  inspired  by  the  true  Jacksonian  spirit,  we  hold  to  the 
doctrine  that  party  honesty  is  party  duty  and  party  courage  is 
party  expediency,  we  shall  win  a  sure  and  lasting  success 
through  the  deserved  support  of  a  discriminating,  intelligent, 
and  thoughtful  people. 

IX. 

To  a  Political  Rally,  in  Columbus,  O. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
ALBANY,  September  24,  1884. 
MY  DEAR  STR: 

1  very  much  regret  that  the  pressure  of  official  duties  will 
prevent  my  joining  you  at  the  meeting  to  be  held  in  Columbus 
on  the  25th  inst.  I  hope  the  meeting  will  be  a  complete 
success,  and  that  it  will  be  the  means  of  increasing  the  enthu 
siasm  already  aroused  for  the  cause  of  good  government. 

I  believe  that  the  voters  of  the  country  are  fully  alive  to  the 
necessity  of  installing  an  administration  of  public  affairs  which 
shall  be  truly  their  own,  not  only  because  it  is  the  result  of 
their  choice,  but  because  its  selected  instrumentalities  are 
directly  from  the  body  of  the  people  and  impressed  with  the 
people's  thoughts  and  sentiments.  They  are  tired,  I  think,  of 
a  rule  so  long  continued  that  it  has  bred  and  fostered  a  class 
standing  between  them  and  their  political  action,  and  whose 
interest  in  affairs  ends  with  partisan  zeal  and  the  advancement 
of  personal  advantage. 

Let  me  remind  the  people  that  if  they  seek  to  make  their 
public  servants  feel  their  direct  responsibility  to  them,  and  be 
careful  of  their  interests,  their  objects  will  not  be  accom 
plished  by  blind  adherence  to  the  party  which  has  grown  arro- 


284       TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

gant  with  long-continued  power.  Let  me  impress  upon  the 
people  that  the  issue  involved  in  the  pending  canvass  is  the 
establishment  of  a  pure  and  honest  administration  of  their 
government.  Let  me  show  them  the  way  to  this  and  warn 
them  against  any  cunningly  designed  effort  to  lead  them  into 
other  paths  of  irrelevant  discussion. 

With  these  considerations  before  them,  and  with  an  earnest 
presentation  of  our  claims  to  the  confidence  of  the  people 
and  of  their  responsibility,  we  need  not  fear  the  result  of  their 
intelligent  action. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
ALLEN  G.  THURMAN, 

COLUMBUS,  O. 


X. 

To  Ihe  "  Cleveland  Democracy"  Buffalo,  AT.    Y. 

EXECUTIVE    MANSION, 

WASHINGTON,    D.   C.,  September  30,  1885. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: 

Please  accept  my  thanks  for  the  pamphlet  you  sent  me 
containing  papers  read  before  the  Cleveland  Democracy 
of  Buffalo.  The  collection  gives  excellent  proof  of  the 
amount  and  value  of  the  work  already  done  by  the  organ 
ization.  I  know  of  nothing  which  could  better  engage  the 
endeavor  of  such  an  association  than  its  declared  objects — "to 
foster  and  disseminate  Democratic  principles"  and  "to  pro 
mote  and  secure  the  political  education  and  Democratic 
fellowship  of  its  members." 

A  marked  improvement  in  our  politics  must  follow,  I  think, 
a  better  understanding  of  the  reasons  for  the  existence  of 
parties,  and  a  clearer  apprehension  of  their  relations  to  the 
welfare  of  the  country  and  the  prosperity  of  our  people. 
Membership  in  a  party  might  well  rest  less  upon  a  blind, 
unreflecting  enthusiasm  for  a  certain  continued  partisan  com- 


TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND    ORGANIZATIONS.        285 

panionship  and  the  hope  of  personal  reward  and  advantage, 
and  more  upon  a  deliberate  attachment  to  well-defined  and 
understood  party  principles.  And  this  better  condition  is  to 
be  realized  largely  as  the  result  of  such  work  as  the  Cleveland 
Democracy  has  undertaken. 

The  Democratic  cause  need  have  no  fear  of  the  most  com 
plete  discussion  of  its  principles;  and  the  history  of  its  great 
leaders  and  their  achievements  cannot  fail  to  inspire  the  mem 
bers  of  the  party  with  pride  and  veneration.  It  is  well  in 
these  latter  days  to  turn  back  often  and  read  of  the  faith  which 
the  founders  of  our  party  had  in  the  people — how  exactly  they 
apprehended  their  needs  and  with  what  lofty  aims  and  purposes 
they  sought  the  public  good. 

The  object  of  your  organization  should  arouse  the  zeal  and 
continuous  effort  of  every  member;  and  its  usefulness  should 
insure  its  encouragement  and  prosperity. 

Yours  sincerely, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
HERBERT  P.  BISSELL,  ESQ.,  President. 


XL 

To  the  President  of  tfie  National  Association  of  Clubs. 

/£~    EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
^WASHINGTON,  September  14,  1888. 
CHAUNCEY  F.  BLACK,  President,  etc. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  The  papers  which  you  kindly  sent  for  my 
perusal,  touching  the  scope,  method,  and  purpose  of  the  Asso 
ciation  of  Democratic  Clubs,  have  strengthened  my  belief  in 
the  extreme  importance  of  such  organizations  as  have  been 
thus  associated. 

<^The  struggle  upon  which  we  have  entered  is  in  behalf  of 
the  people — the  plain  people  of  the  land — and  they  must  be 
reached.  We  do  not  proceed  upon  the  theory  that  they  are 
to  be  led  by  others  who  may  or  may  not  be  in  sympathy  with 


286        y V   POLITICAL    CLURS  ANf>    OKGANI/.A  T1ONS. 

their  interests.  We  have  undertaken  to  teach  the  voters  as 
free,  independent  citizens,  intelligent  enough  to  insist  upon 
their  rights,  interested  enough  to  insist  upon  being  treated 
justly,  and  patriotic  enough  to  desire  their  country's  welfare. 

Thus  this  campaign  is  one  of  information  and  organization. 
Every  citizen  should  be  regarded  as  a  thoughtful,  responsible 
voter,  and  he  should  be  furnished  the  means  of  examining  the 
issues  involved  in  the  pending  canvass  for  himself. 

I  am  convinced  that  no  agency  is  so  effective  to  this  end  as 
the  clubs  which  have  been  formed,  permeating  all  parts  of  the 
country  and  making  their  influence  felt  in  every  neighborhood. 
By  a  systematic  effort  they  make  the  objects  of  the  Demo 
cratic  party  understood,  by  the  fair  and  calm  discussion  of  the 
Democratic  position  in  this  contest,  among  those  with  whom 
their  members  daily  come  in  contact ;  and  by  preventing  a 
neglect  of  the  duty  of  suffrage  on  election  dayr  these  clubs 
will  become,  in  my  opinion,  the  most  important  instrumentality 
yet  devised  for  promoting  the  success  of  our  party7[ 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

XII. 

To  the  Democratic  Societies  of  Pennsylvania. 

NEW  YORK,  October  n,  1889. 
MY   DEAR  SIR: 

1  am  sorry  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  be  in  Philadelphia  at 
the  General  Assembly  of  the  Democratic  Societies  of  Penn 
sylvania  on  the  i5th  inst.,  and  cannot,  therefore,  attend  the 
meeting  which  will  follow  that  assembly. 

My  estimate  of  the  value  of  these  Democratic  Societies  as 
agencies  for  the  instruction  of  the  people  upon  political  topics 
and  for  the  accomplishment  of  legitimate  political  work  is  well 
known,  and  there  never  was  a  time  when,  in  the  interests  of  good 
government  and  national  prosperity,  they  were  more  needed. 

The  condition  of  political  affairs  is  such  that  the  attention  of 


TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       287 

all  true  Democrats  should  be  directed  to  the  enforcement  of 
the  distinctive  principles  of  the  party;  and  in  my  opinion  this 
is  no  time  for  the  search  after  makeshifts  and  temporary 
expedients. 

We,  as  a  party,  are  fairly  enlisted  in  the  cause  of  the  people, 
and  patriotism,  duty,  and  party  success  require  that  we  should 
be  constant  and  steadfast.  All  personal  and  selfish  aims 
should  be  subordinated. 

I  confidently  expect  that  in  the  work  we  have  in  hand  our 
Democratic  societies  will  exhibit  an  efficiency  which  will  be 
gratefully  acknowledged  by  all  who  have  at  heart  the  welfare 
and  prosperity  of  the  American  people. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 
CHAUNCEY  F.  BLACK.  GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


XIII. 
To  the  New   York  Convention  of  Democratic  Clubs. 

NEW  YORK,   October  21,  1889. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  invitation  to  attend  the  Convention 
of  New  York  State  Democratic  Clubs  to  be  held  at  the  Hoff 
man  House  on  the  22d  inst. 

I  am  glad  that  you  were  considerate  enough  of  my  situation 
and  feelings  to  give  me  an  opportunity  to  infer  from  your  note 
that  my  failure  to  accept  your  invitation  would  neither  cause 
great  disappointment  nor  be  construed  as  indicating  any  lack 
of  interest  in  the  work  which  the  clubs  represented  in  the 
league  have  undertaken. 

These  organizations  had  their  origin  in  the  heat  and  activity 
of  a  Presidential  election,  which  furnishes  plenty  of  that  enthu 
siasm  upon  which  political  organizations  easily  subsist.  While 
they  are  certainly  very  useful  at  such  a  time,  it  must  be  con 
ceded  that  the  noise  and  excitement  of  a  campaign  are  not 
conducive  to  the  accomplishment  of  missionary  work  or  the 
effective  dissemination  of  political  truth.  This  most  important 


288        TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

work  can   better  be  done  in  more   quiet  surroundings,  though 
usually  it  is  not  then  so  easy  to  maintain  political  associations. 

It  has  been  too  often  the  case,  if  it  may  not  be  said  to  be 
the  rule,  that  political  clubs,  whatever  their  declarations  of 
perpetuity  may  have  been,  have  only  lived  during  the  cam 
paign  in  which  they  had  their  birth,  and  only  performed  tem 
porary  campaign  work.  I  am  very  much  pleased  to  learn  that 
the  League  of  New  York  Democratic  Clubs  intends  to  make 
the  organizations  of  which  it  is  composed  permanent  agencies 
for  spreading  and  illustrating  the  doctrines  of  the  Democratic 
party  at  all  times  and  in  all  circumstances. 

In  making  this  effort  the  league  is  to  be  congratulated  upon 
the  fact  that  the  principles  of  Democracy  occupy  at  this  time 
a  larger  place  than  they  lately  have  in  the  consideration  of  the 
party.  The  study  and  propagation  of  these  principles  afford 
strong  inducements  to  associated  effort,  and,  what  is  better, 
these  efforts  are  invested  with  a  value  and  importance  as  great 
as  the  prosperity  of  our  land,  and  as  broad  in  their  beneficence 
as  the  welfare  of  all  our  people. 

I  look  to  the  ascendency  of  the  principles  upon  which  true 
Democracy  rests,  which  will  be  greatly  aided  by  the  activity  of 
leagues  such  as  yours  to  secure  us  from  wasting  extravagance, 
from  demagogic  pretense,  from  sectional  bitterness, and  from  the 
widespread  corruption  of  our  suffrage.  Could  labor  and  effort 
have  greater  or  higher  incentives  than  the  accomplishment  of 
these  results  ?  Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

XIV. 
To  the  Democracy  of  Kings  County,  N.  Y. 

45  WILLIAM  STREET, 

NEW  YORK,  October  30,  1880. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  have  received  your  invitation,  tendered  on  behalf 
of  the  Democratic  organization  of  Kings  County,  to  at- 


TO  POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       289 

tend  and  address  a  mass  meeting  of  the  Democracy  of  the 
county  on  the  evening  of  Friday,  the  ist  day  of  Novem 
ber. 

You  are  quite  right  in  suggesting  that  I  am  too  well  ac 
quainted  with  the  Democracy  of  Kings  County  to  make  nec 
essary  any  assurance  of  the  sincerity  and  earnestness  of  this 
invitation  ;  and  I  -confess  that  it  is  difficult  for  me  to  decline 
the  courtesy  or  disappoint  the  wishes  of  such  kind  party 
friends. 

I  cannot,  however,  quite  satisfy  myself  that  I  ought,  by  ac 
cepting  your  invitation,  to  depart  from  the  course  which  I 
have  followed  in  all  similar  cases. 

I  know  how  ably  the  speakers  who  address  the  meeting 
will  present  the  topics  which  are  prominent  in  the  canvass, 
and  how  well  the  claims  of  our  candidates  to  public  confidence 
will  be  advocated. 

The  thought  which  is  uppermost  in  my  mind  leads  me  to 
suggest  that  this  is  a  time  for  the  Democrats  of  our  State  to 
guard  against  the  indifference  and  lack  of  activity  which  are 
apt  to  result  from  the  reaction  of  a  recent  Presidential  cam 
paign,  and  which,  also,  too  often  exist  when  the  grade  and 
character  of  the  offices  to  be  filled  are  not  such  as  inspire  the 
greatest  party  enthusiasm. 

We  should  constantly  bear  in  mind  that  every  election  in 
volving  Democratic  principles  is  important  to  our  party,  and 
that  indifference  should  not  be  permitted  to  invite  defeat  when 
fit  and  worthy  men  and  true  Democrats  are  presented  as  can 
didates  for  public  office. 

In  the  pending  campaign,  though  the  canvass  has  to  do 
with  State  policy  and  State  offices,  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
it  is  also  related  in  an  important  way  to  fundamental  party 
principles  ;  and  it  should  be  our  pleasure,  as  it  is  our  duty, 
to  give  active  and  earnest  support  to  the  worthy  and  honest 
men,  and  the  tried  and  true  members  of  the  Democratic  party 
who  are  our  candidates. 

I  hope  that  your  mass  meeting  may  be  the  means  of  arous- 


290        TO  POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

ing  that   Democratic    activity,   watchfulness,  and   enthusiasm 
which  will  insure  Democratic  success. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER    CLEVELAND. 
JOHN  P.  ADAMS,  ESQ.,  President,  etc. 


XV. 

To  the    Young  Men's  Democratic  Club  at  Canton,  O. 

NEW  YORK,   November  22,  1889. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  am  pleased  with  the  invitation  you  extend  to  Mrs.  Cleve 
land  and  myself  to  be  present  at  the  anniversary  meeting  of 
the  Young  Men's  Democratic  Club  on  the  5th  day  of  Decem 
ber.  If  the  exercises  you  contemplate  and  outline  in  your 
letter  are  carried  out,  all  who  attend  them  are  certainly 
promised  a  rare  exposition  of  sound  doctrine  from  the  eloquent 
and  able  speakers  you  have  secured.  I  am  sorry  that,  owing 
to  other  engagements,  we  must  be  among  the  absent  ones. 

The  spirit  and  tone  of  your  letter,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  the 
purposes  of  your  club,  are  very  gratifying.  The  conslantly 
growing  interest  manifested  by  our  young  men  in  the  princi 
ples  of  the  Democratic  party  constitute,  in  my  opinion,  the 
most  reliable  hope  of  their  ascendency.  If,  at  any  time  in  the 
past,  it  has  with  any  truth  been  said  that  our  party  did  not 
invite  to  its  standard  the  enterprising  and  thoughtful  young 
men  of  the  country,  to-day  such  an  allegation  shall  be  disputed. 
And  these  men,  keenly  alive  to  their  country's  welfare, 
quick  to  discover  the  needs  of  the  present,  and  ready,  in  the 
freedom  of  untrammeled  thought,  to  follow  in  the  pathway  of 
good  citizenship,  can  be  safely  trusted  with  political  responsi 
bilities.  Hoping  your  meeting  will  be  very  successful,  I  am 
Yours  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


TO   POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       291 
XVI. 

To  the    Tammany   Society's   Fourth   of  July   Celebrations. 

I. 

MARION,   MASS.,   June  30,  1890. 
DEAR  SIR: 

My  absence  from  the  city  of  New  York,  and  plans  which 
I  have  already  made,  prevent  my  acceptance  of  the  courteous 
invitation  which  I  have  received  to  attend  the  celebration 
by  the  Tammany  Society  of  the  one  hundred  and  fourteenth 
anniversary  of  American  independence. 

The  celebration  contemplated  by  your  ancient  and  time- 
honored  organization  will,  it  seems  to  me,  fall  short  in  the 
impressiveness  due  to  the  occasion  if  it  does  not  persistently 
present  and  emphasize  the  idea  that  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  was  the  protest  of  honest  and  sturdy  men  against  the 
wrongs  and  oppressions  of  misgovernment.  The  reasons  and 
justification  for  their  revolt  are  exhibited  in  their  recital  of  a 
long  list  of  grievous  instances  of  maladministration.  They 
complained  that  their  interests  had  been  so  neglected,  and  their 
rights  as  lawful  subjects  so  violated,  under  British  rule,  that 
they  were  absolved  from  further  fealty. 

Our  fathers,  in  establishing  a  new  government  upon  the  will 
of  the  people  and  consecrated  to  their  care  and  just  protection, 
could  not  prescribe  limitations  which  would  deny  to  political 
parties  its  conduct  and  administration.  The  opportunities 
and  the  temptations,  thus  necessarily  presented  to  partisanship, 
have  brought  us  to  a  time  when  party  control  is  far  too  arro 
gant  and  bitter,  and  when,  in  public  place,  the  true  interests 
of  the  country  are  too  lightly  considered. 

In  this  predicament,  those  who  love  their  country  may  well 
remember,  with  comfort  and  satisfaction,  on  Independence  Day, 
that  the  disposition  of  the  American  people  to  revolt  against 
maladministration  still  remains  to  them,  and  is  the  badge  of 
their  freedom  and  independence,  as  well  as  their  security  for 
continued  prosperity  and  happiness. 


292        TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS. 

They  will  not  revolt  against  their  plan  of  government,  for 
its  protection  and  preservation  supply  every  inspiration  of  true 
Americanism.  But  because  they  are  free  and  independent 
American  citizens,  they  will,  as  long  as  their  love  and  venera 
tion  for  their  government  shall  last,  revolt  against  the  domina 
tion  of  any  political  party  which,  intrusted  with  power,  sordidly 
seeks  only  its  continuance,  and  which,  faithlessly  violating  its 
plain  and  simple  duty  to  the  people,  insults  them  with  profes 
sions  of  disinterested  solicitude  while  it  eats  out  their  substance. 

And  yet,  with  all  this,  we  should  not  in  blind  security  deny 
the  existence  of  danger.  The  masses  of  our  countrymen  are 
brave  and  therefore  generous;  they  are  strong  and  therefore 
confident,  and  they  are  honest  and  therefore  unsuspecting. 
Our  peril  lies  in  the  ease  with  which  they  may  be  deluded  and 
cajoled  by  those  who  would  traffic  with  their  interests. 

No  occasion  is  more  opportune  than  the  celebration  of  the 
one  hundred  and  fourteenth  anniversary  of  American  inde 
pendence  to  warn  the  American  people  of  the  present  necessity 
on  their  part  of  a  vigilant  watchfulness  of  their  rights  and  a 
jealous  exaction  of  honest  and  unselfish  performance  of  public 
duty.  Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

ABRAM  B.  TAPPEN,  Grand  Sachem. 


BUZZARD'S  BAY,   MASS  ,   July  i,  1891. 
DEAR  SIR: 

I  am  unable  to  accept  your  courteous  invitation  to  be  pres 
ent  at  the  celebration,  by  the  Tammany  Society,  of  the  one 
hundred  and  fifteenth  anniversary  of  American  independence. 

I  should  be  glad  to  participate  in  the  celebration  which  your 
society  contemplates,  and  I  hope  the  design  of  its  promoters 
to  make  the  occasion  one  "of  exceptional  significance  and 
extended  effects,"  will  be  fully  realized. 

Our  American  holiday  cannot  be  appropriately  celebrated 
without  recalling  the  immense  cost  and  the  transcendent  value 


TO  POLITICAL   CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZA7"IONS.       293 

of  our  national  independence,  and  awakening  and  reserving  in 
our  hearts  that  spirit  of  patriotism  which  is  the  foundation  of 
our  independence  and  the  security  of  our  life  as  a  nation. 

Every  American  citizen  should,  on  that  day,  consecrate 
himself  anew  to  an  unqualified  allegiance  to  his  government, 
and  should  soberly  realize  that  no  social  or  political  relation  in 
life  can  be  worthily  maintained  unless  it  embraces  an  unselfish 
love  of  country. 

Your  time-honored  association  justly  claims  a  proud  history 
of  devotion  to  a  political  party  which  has  always  insisted  upon 
the  integrity  of  our  free  institutions,  and  which  has  at  all  times 
professed  to  champion  the  rights  of  the  people.  I  am,  there 
fore,  certain  that  the  Tammany  Society,  in  its  celebration  of 
Independence  Day,  will  not  fail  to  emphasize  the  truth  that 
political  organizations  can  only  be  valuable,  and  party  efforts 
can  only  promise  success,  when  they  have  for  their  purpose  and 
inspiration  the  broadest  and  purest  patriotism. 
Yours  very  truly, 

GKOVER  CLEVELAND. 
THOMAS  F.  GILROY,  Grand  Sachem. 


XVII. 
To  the   Young  Mens  Democratic  Association,  Canton,  O. 

NEW  YORK,   November  25,  1890. 

I  thank  you  for  the  invitation  I  have  just  received  to  meet 
with  the  members  of  the  Young  Men's  Democratic  Club  at 
Canton  to  rejoice  over  the  late  Democratic  victory.  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  be  present  on 
the  occasion  you  contemplate,  but  I  hope  that  it  will  be  full  of 
enthusiasm  and  congratulation. 

And  yet  may  I  not  suggest  one  sober  thought  which  should 
constantly  be  in  our  minds?  Our  late  success  is,  of  course,  the 
triumph  of  Democratic  principles,  but  that  success  was  made 
possible  by  the  co-operation  of  many  who  are  not  to  be  con- 


294        TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATION'S. 

sidered  as  irrevocably  and  under  all  circumstances  members  of 
our  party.  They  trusted  us  and  allied  themselves  with  us  in 
the  late  struggle  because  they  saw  that  those  with  whom  they 
had  acted  politically  were  heedless  of  the  interests  of  the  coun 
try  and  untrue  to  the  people. 

We  have  still  to  convince  them  that  Democracy  means  some 
thing  more  than  mere  management  for  party  success  and  a 
partisan  distribution  of  benefits  after  success.  This  can  only 
be  done  by  insisting  that  in  the  conduct  of  our  party,  principles 
touching  the  public  welfare  shall  be  placed  above  spoils,  and 
this  is  the  sentiment  of  the  masses  of  the  Democratic  party  to 
day.  They  are  disinterested  and  patriotic,  and  they  should  not 
be  misrepresented  by  the  tricks  of  those  who  would  not  scruple 
to  use  the  party  name  for  selfish  purposes. 

I  do  not  say  that  there  is  danger  of  this;  but  I  am  convinced 
that  our  duty  to  those  who  have  trusted  us  consists  in  pushing 
on,  continually  and  vigorously,  the  principles  in  the  advocacy 
of  which  we  have  triumphed,  and  thus  superseding  all  that  is 
ignoble  and  unworthy.  In  this  way  we  shall  place  our  party 
on  solid  ground  and  confirm  the  people  in  the  hope  that  we 
strive  for  their  welfare,  and,  following  this  course,  we  shall 
deserve  and  achieve  further  success. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

XVIII. 
To  the  Cleveland  Club,  Atlanta,  Ga. 

NEW  YORK,  February  29,  1892. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: 

I  will  not  attempt  to  conceal  the  gratification  afforded  me  by 
the  message  you  transmit  from  the  Cleveland  Club  of  Atlanta. 
1  have  received  so  many  manifestations  of  friendliness  from 
the  people  of  Atlanta  that  I  cherish  toward  them  the  warmest 
gratitude  and  liveliest  affection. 

I  cannot  say  that  I  am  certain  I  deserve  all  the  laudation 
contained  in  the  resolutions  of  your  club.  I  can  say,  however, 


TO   POLITICAL    CLUBS  AND   ORGANIZATIONS.       295 

that  I  find  a  sense  of  great  satisfaction  in  the  reflection  that  I 
have  been  permitted  to  aid  somewhat  in  restoring  to  the  people, 
in  a  large  section  of  our  country,  their  standing  and  position  in 
our  common  American  citizenship,  not  nominally  and  barrenly, 
but  substantially  and  potentionally. 

For  whatever  I  have  done  in  this  direction  I  have  abundant 
reward  in  the  prosperity  of  your  people,  which  doubles  our 
national  prosperity;  in  the  cheerful  co-operation  of  your  peo 
ple,  which  insures  a  lasting  national  brotherhood;  and  in  the 
appreciation  by  your  people  of  all  that  has  been  done  in  their 
behalf. 

After  all,  I  look  upon  these  beneficent  accomplishments  as 
resulting  from  the  appreciation  of  true  Democratic  doctrines, 
and  I  believe  that  one  who  in  public  place  submits  himself  to 
their  guidance  will  find  it  easy  to  do  justice  and  to  subserve 
the  interests  of  all  his  fellow-countrymen. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

SPEECHES    IN     POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 
I. 

Serenade  Speech  from  Balcony  of  Buffalo  Democratic  Club  upon 
his  Nomination  for  Governor^  September  22,  1882. 

MY  FRIENDS  : 

I  am  sure  there  will  be  nothing  for  me  to  do  in  the  cam 
paign  upon  which  we  have  just  entered  that  will  so  appeal  to 
my  feelings,  and  about  which  I  will  have  to  take  so  much 
care,  as  in  addressing  you  this  evening.  1  must  be  careful 
what  I  say,  or  the  recollections  of  the  past  and  the  apprecia 
tion  of  your  esteem  will  quite  overcome  me. 

I  can  but  remember  to-night  the  time  when  I  came  among 
you,  friendless,  unknown,  and  poor.  I  can  but  remember 
how,  step  by  step,  by  the  encouragement  of  my  good  fellow- 
citizens,  I  have  gone  on  to  receive  more  of  their  appreciation 
than  is  my  due,  until  I  have  been  honored  with  more  distinc 
tion,  perhaps,  than  I  deserve.  The  position  of  Mayor  of  this 
great  and  proud  city  ought  to  be  enough  to  satisfy  the  most 
ambitious.  The  position  of  Mayor,  backed  and  supported  as 
it  is  by  every  good  citizen,  I  am  sure,  should  satisfy  any  man, 
and  it  would  seem  almost  grasping  to  wish  for  a  higher  honor. 
The  promise  of  the  future  that  is  before  me  is  somewhat 
saddened  and  dimmed  by  the  reflection  that,  if  carried  out, 
1  should  have  to  leave  my  good  friends  of  Buffalo  to  enter 
upon  another  sphere  of  activity. 

Bear  in  mind,  gentlemen,  that  whatever  may  come  in  the 
future,  the  people  of  Buffalo  and  all  their  kindnesses  to  me 
will  ever  have  the  warmest  place  in  a  grateful  heart. 

2Q6 


SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  297 

The  event  of  to-day  is  an  event  which  appeals  to  the  local 
pride  of  us  all,  and  I  should  be  too  vain  to  live  with — too 
vain  to  be  of  any  comfort  to  my  friends— if  I  did  not  fully 
appreciate  the  fact  that  this  splendid  ovation  is  not  altogether 
on  account  of  personal  preference.  You  are  here  to  support 
a  cause— a  great  cause,  and  while  you  may  fully  appreciate 
that  a  fellow-citizen  is  to  bear  aloft  the  banner  of  Democracy 
in  this  campaign,  you  are  to  remember  that  he  is  the  standard- 
bearer  in  a  cause  that  is  dear  to  the  people  and  in  which  all 
their  interests  are  involved.  You  are  to  support  it  because 
you  struggle  for  principles  the  ascendency  of  which  will  bring 
happiness,  peace,  and  prosperity  to  the  people. 

It  is  fitting  that  the  campaign  should  begin  here  at  these 
club  rooms,  where,  perhaps,  more  than  in  any  other  place,  my 
candidacy  was  started  and  has  been  fostered.  I  wish  that 
those  valiant  old  soldiers — call  them  old  men  and  old  boys,  if 
you  will— were  here  to-night  to  enjoy  with  us  the  fruit  of  our 
labors. 

Here  we  begin!  Let  us  not  believe  that  because  local 
pride  and  preference  urge  us  on  and  the  prospect  looks 
bright — let  us  not  think  that  the  battle  is  to  be  won  without  a 
great  struggle.  On  the  one  side  we  are  to  fight  in  the  interest 
of  the  people  against  a  power  upheld  by  a  National  Adminis 
tration,  and  it  will  take  the  strongest  effort  to  shake  off  its 
vise-like  grip. 

Remember  that  all  the  means  and  money  at  the  command 
of  the  Administration  are  to  be  put  into  play  against  us. 

Remember  that  New  York  is  the  battle  ground  of  1884. 

Do  not  be  cajoled  into  the  belief  that  because  we  are  confi 
dent  here — because  my  neighbors  are  enthusiastic  in  my 
support— that  this  is  going  to  win  the  day.  Remember  that 
this  is  a  large  State  and  one  which  is  regarded  as  the  key  to 
an  important  position. 

Off  then  with  our  coats  !  We  must  labor  as  we  never  did 
before,  and  not  for  personal  preferences  but  for  the  great 
cause  in  which  we  are  enlisted. 


298  SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

II. 

Serenade  Speech  at  Albany,  October  12,  1883. 
FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

I  am  very  much  gratified  by  this  remembrance  of  me  in 
the  middle  of  the  rejoicing  which  to-night  gladdens  the 
hearts  of  the  members  of  the  party  to  which  I  am  glad  to 
belong.  I  do  not  for  a  moment  attribute  this  demonstra 
tion  and  the  compliment  of  the  serenade  to  any  other  cause 
than  the  inclination  of  my  party  friends,  at  '  uch  a  time  as  this, 
to  congratulate  each  other  on  this  occasion.  Official  place  and 
public  position  may  be  laid  aside,  for  a  moment,  while,  as 
fellow-members  of  a  party  which  has  achieved  a  victory,' we 
mingle  our  joy  and  exultation.  We  celebrate  to-night  a 
victory  in  a  most  important  field,  and  a  victory  which  gives  us 
an  earnest  of  a  much  greater  yet  10  come.  We  look  with 
pride  and  joy  to  the  achievement  of  our  brethren  in  a  sister 
State,  and  yield  to  them  all  the  praise  and  admiration  which 
their  gallantry  and  courage  claim. 

The  first  battle  in  the  great  campaign  of  1884  has  been 
fought  and  won.  Ohio  in  the  van  calls  on  us  to  follow. 
What  shall  the  answer  be  ?  The  Democracy  of  New  York 
sends  back  the  ringing  assurance  that  we  are  on  the  way,  and 
in  a  few  short  days  will  be  at  her  side,  bearing  glorious 
trophies.  This  is  not  an  idle  boast,  full  of  temporary  en 
thusiasm,  nor  the  voice  of  blind  partisan  zeal.  We  shall 
succeed  because  we  deserve  success,  because  the  people  are 
just,  and  because  we  bear  high  aloft  the  banner  of  their  rights. 
We  know  full  well  the  need  of  watchfulness  and  effort,  and  we 
shall  not  fail  to  appreciate  that  neglect  and  slothfulness  are  a 
betrayal  of  our  trust. 

I  congratulate  most  sincerely  every  true  Democrat  in  the 
State  of  New  York  that  the  cause  in  which  he  is  enlisted  is  so 
worthy  of  his  best  efforts,  and  that  the  candidates  chosen  to 
lead  in  the  contest  so  well  represent  his  cause.  The  conven 
tion  which  selected,  for  the  Democratic  party,  the  men  now 


SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  299 

presented  to  the  people  of  the  State  for  their  suffrages  had  be 
fore  it  other  men,  any  of  whom  the  party  would  have  delighted 
to  honor  ;  but  a  choice  was  to  be  made,  and  that  it  was  well 
and  fairly  made  I  fully  believe.  The  charge  or  insinuation  in 
any  quarter  that  the  choice  was  influenced  improperly,  or  de 
termined  otherwise  than  by  the  judgment  of  those  upon  whom 
the  responsibility  was  cast,  will  not  deceive  and  may  be  safely 
left  to  the  intelligence  of  the  people  of  the  State. 

For  myself,  I  shall  claim  the  privilege  of  aiding  in  the  cause. 
This  cannot  be  done  by  fault-finding  and  cavil.  I  know  I  can 
aid  by  performing  the  duties  of  my  public  trust  for  the  benefit 
of  the  people,  for  I  am  sure  that  the  party  which  does  not  keep 
near  to  them,  and  the  party  representatives  who  are  not  care 
ful  of  their  interests,  they  will  repudiate.  We  seek  to  put  the 
affairs  of  the  State  in  the  hands  of  men  having  the  full  confi 
dence  of  the  party.  We  seek  to  put  in  higher  places  those  who 
have  shown  fidelity  to  every  private  and  public  trust.  We 
present  to  the  people  of  the  State  candidates  all  of  whom 
come  accredited  with  the  confidence  and  affection  of  their 
neighbors,  which  are  the  best  credentials.  Their  ability  to 
perform  the  duties  of  the  offices  is  unquestioned,  and,  fresh 
from  the  people,  they  understand  and  will  care  for  their 
wants. 

Believing  these  things,  I  am  enlisted  in  their  success,  and  I 
hope  that,  through  the  hearty  efforts  of  their  party  friends  and 
by  the  intelligent  action  of  the  voters  of  the  State,  I  may  wel 
come  them  to  share  in  the  administration  of  our  State  govern 
ment. 


III. 

At  Newark,  N.  /.,  October  26,  1884. 

I  am  here  to  visit  the  county  and  State  where  I  was  born,  in 
response  to  the  invitation  of  many  political  friends  and  a 
number  of  those  who,  as  neighbors,  remember  my  family,  if 


300  SPEECHES    IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

not  me.  I  do  not  wish  to  attempt  any  false  pretense  by 
declaring  that  ever  since  the  day  when,  a  very  small  boy,  I  left 
the  State,  I  have  languished  in  an  enforced  absence  and  longed 
to  tread  again  its  soil  ;  and  yet  I  may  say,  without  affectation, 
that,  though  the  way  of  life  has  led  me  far  from  the  place  of 
my  birth,  the  names  of  Caldwell  and  Newark  and  the  memories 
connected  with  these  places  are  as  fresh  as  ever.  I  have  never 
been  disloyal  to  my  native  State,  but  have  ever  kept  a  place 
warm  in  my  heart  for  the  love  I  cherish  for  my  birthplace. 
1  hope,  then,  that  1  shall  not  be  regarded  as  a  recreant  son, 
but  that  I  may,  without  challenge,  lay  claim  to  my  place  as  a 
born  Jersey  man. 

If  you  will  grant  me  this  I  shall  not  be  too  modest  to  assume 
to  share  the  pride  which  you  all  must  feel  in  the  position  the 
State  of  New  Jersey  and  the  county  of  Essex  hold  in  the  coun 
try  to-day.  The  history  of  the  State  dates  beyond  the  time 
when  our  Union  was  formed.  Its  farm-lands  exceed  in  aver 
age  value  per  acre  those  of  any  other  State,  and  it  easily  leads 
all  the  States  in  a  number  of  important  industries.  When  we 
consider  the  city  of  Newark,  we  find  a  municipality  ranking  as 
the  fourteenth  in  point  of  population  among  the  cities  of  the 
land.  It  leads  every  other  city  in  three  important  industries; 
it  is  second  in  another,  and  third  in  still  another. 

Of  course,  all  these  industries  necessitate  the  existence  of  a 
large  laboring  population.  This  force,  in  my  opinion,  is  a 
further  element  of  strength  and  greatness  in  the  State  ;  no 
part  of  the  community  should  be  more  interested  in  a  wise  and 
just  administration  of  their  government,  none  should  be  better 
informed  as  to  their  needs  and  rights,  and  none  should 
guard  more  vigilantly  against  the  smooth  pretenses  of  false 
friends. 

In  common  with  other  citizens  they  should  desire  an  honest 
and  economical  administration  of  public  affairs.  It  is  quite 
plain,  too,  that  the  people  have  a  right  to  demand  that  no  more 
money  shall  be  taken  from  them,  directly  or  indirectly,  for 
public  use,  than  is  necessary  for  this  purpose.  Indeed,  the 


SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  3O1 

right  of  the  government  to  exact  tribute  from  the  citizen  is 
limited  to  its  actual  necessities,  and  every  cent  taken  from  the 
people  beyond  that  required  for  their  protection  by  the  govern 
ment  is  no  better  than  robbery.  We  surely  must  condemn, 
then,  a  system  which  takes  from  the  pockets  of  the  people 
millions  of  dollars  not  needed  for  the  support  of  the  govern 
ment,  and  which  tends  to  the  inauguration  of  corrupt  schemes 
and  extravagant  expenditures. 

The  Democratic  party  has  declared  that  all  taxation  shall  be 
limited  by  the  requirements  of  an  economical  government. 
This  is  plain  and  direct,  and  it  distinctly  recognized  the  value 
of  labor,  and  its  right  to  governmental  care,  when  it  declared 
that  the  necessary  reduction  in  taxation,  and  the  limitation 
thereof  to  the  country's  needs,  should  be  effected  without 
depriving  American  labor  of  the  ability  to  compete  success 
fully  with  foreign  labor  and  without  injuring  the  interests  of 
our  laboring  population.  At  this  time,  when  the  suffrages  of 
the  laboring  men  are  so  industriously  sought,  they  should,  by 
careful  inquiry,  discover  the  party  pledged  to  the  protection  of 
their  interests,  and  which  recognizes  in  their  labor  something 
most  valuable  to  the  prosperity  of  the  country  and  primarily 
entitled  to  its  care  and  protection.  An  intelligent  examination 
will  lead  them  to  the  exercise  of  their  privileges  as  citizens  in 
furtherance  of  their  interests  and  the  welfare  of  the  country. 
An  unthinking  performance  of  their  duty  at  the  ballot-box 
will  result  in  their  injury  and  betrayal. 

No  party  and  no  candidate  can  have  cause  to  complain  of 
the  free  and  intelligent  expression  of  the  people's  will.  This 
expression  will  be  free  when  uninfluenced  by  appeals  to  preju 
dice,  or  the  senseless  cry  of  danger  selfishly  raised  by  a  party 
that  seeks  the  retention  of  power  and  patronage  ;  and  it  will  be 
intelligent  when  based  upon  calm  deliberation  and  a  full  ap 
preciation  of  the  duty  of  good  citizenship.  In  a  government 
of  the  people  no  party  gains  to  itself  all  the  patriotism  which 
the  country  contains.  The  perpetuity  of  our  institutions  and 
the  public  welfare  surely  do  not  depend  upon  unchanging  party 


302  SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

ascendency,  but  upon  a  simple  businesslike  administration  of 
the  affairs  of  government  and  the  appreciation  by  public  orficers 
that  they  are  the  people's  servants,  not  their  masters. 


IV. 

At  Bridgeport,  Conn.,  October  30,  1884. 

I  cannot  forbear,  at  such  a  time  as  this,  to  express  the  pleas- 
ure  I  experience  in  the  sincere  and  heartfelt  welcome  that  the 
people  of  New  Haven,  Bridgeport,  and  the  State  of  Connecti 
cut  have  accorded  me.  If  this  welcome  was  a  tribute  to  me  as 
an  individual,  I  could  only  express  my  gratitude  ;  but  when  I 
find  I  represent  an  idea  that  is  the  same  with  you  as  with  me, 
it  is  with  a  sense  of  responsibility  that  I  stand  before  you. 

The  world  has  not  produced  so  grand  a  spectacle  as  a  nation 
of  freemen  determining  its  own  cause.  In  that  position  you 
stand  to-night.  At  such  a  time  a  leader  stands  in  a  solemn 
position,  and  the  plaudits  of  his  hearers  can  only  serve  to  in 
crease  the  feeling  of  responsibility— that  is,  if  he  is  a  man  true 
to  his  country  and  to  the  best  interests  of  her  people— which 
pervades  the  contest. 

Survey  'the  field  of  the  coming  contest.  See  the  forces 
drawn  up  in  array  against  you  from  a  party  strong  in  numbers, 
flanked  by  a  vast  army  of  office-holders,  long  in  power,  rich  in 
resources,  both  of  money  and  influence,  but  corrupt  to  the 
core.  To-day,  they  seek  to  control  the  religious  element  of 
your  country;  to-morrow,  they  will  endeavor  to  gain  the  in- 
terest  of  your  millionaire  magnates  for  the  purpose  of  raising 
money  to  carry  on  their  campaign. 

There  should  be  no  mistake  about  this  contest.  It  is  an 
attempt  to  break  down  the  barrier  between  the  people  of  the 
United  States  and  those  that  rule  them.  The  people  are 
bound  clown  by  a  class  of  office-holders  whose  business  it  is  to 
make  money  out  of  their  positions.  If  you  are  to  go  on  for 
ever  choosing  your  rulers  from  this  class,  what  will  be  the 


SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  3°3 

end  ?  This  is  a  question  every  one  of  you  can  answer  for  him 
self.  Because  it  is  the  party  of  the  people  thousands  are 
flocking  to  our  standard,  for  they  love  their  fellow-countrymen 
and  their  country  more  than  they  do  their  party. 

Let  us  feel  that  the  people  are  the  rulers  of  the  nation,  and 
not  the  office-holders,  whose  sole  ambition  and  purpose  is  pri 
vate  gain.  Let  us  also  feel  that  if  the  people  give  us  the 
power  of  government  we  hold  from  the  people  a  sacred 
trust. 


V. 

As  Chairman  of  the  Democratic  Ratification  Meeting  in 
the  Cooper  Union,  New  York,  October  9,  1891. 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

I  acknowledge  with  much  satisfaction  the  compliment  paid 
me  by  my  selection  as  your  presiding  officer  to-night.  I  am 
glad  to  meet  an  assemblage  of  my  fellow-townsmen  on  an 
occasion  when  their  thoughts  turn  to  the  political  situation 
which  confronts  them  and  at  a  time  when  their  duty  as 
citizens,  as  well  as  members  of  a  grand  political  organiza 
tion,  should  be  subject  to  their  serious  consideration. 

If  I  may  be  indulged  a  few  moments  I  shall  occupy 
that  much  of  your  time' in  presenting  some  suggestions  touch 
ing  the  condition  and  responsibilities  of  the  Democracy  to 
the  people  of  the  country,  and  the  obligations  and  duty  at 
this  particular  time  of  the  Democracy  of  our  State. 

The  Democratic  party  has  been  at  all  times, by  profession 
and  by  tradition,  the  party  of  the  people.  I  say  by  pro 
fession  and  tradition,  but  I  by  no  means  intend  to  hint,  in 
the  use  of  this  expression,  that,  in  its  conduct  and  action,  it 
has  failed  to  justify  its  profession  or  been  recreant  to  its 
traditions.  It  must,  however,  be  admitted  that  we  have  had 
our  seasons  of  revival,  when  the  consciousness  of  what  true 
Democracy  really  means  has  been  especially  awakened,  and 


SPEECHES    IN   POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

when  we  have  been  unusually  aroused  to  a  lively  apprecia 
tion  of  the  aggressiveness  and  activity  which  conscience 
exacts  of  those  who  profess  the  Democratic  faith,  and  who  are 
thus  enlisted  in  the  people's  cause. 

We  contemplate  to-night  such  a  revival  and  the  stupen 
dous  results  which  have  thus  far  attended  it.  In  view  of 
these  things  we  cannot  be  honest  and  sincere  and  fail  to 
see  that  a  stern  and  inexorable  duty  is  now  at  our  door. 

We  saw  the  money  of  the  people  unnecessarily  extorted 
from  them  under  the  guise  of  taxation. 

We  saw  that  this  was  the  result  of  a  scheme  perpetuated 
for  the  purpose  of  exacting  tribute  from  the  poor  for  the 
benefit  of  the  rich. 

We  saw,  growing  out   of    this    scheme,    the  wholesale  de 
bauchery  and  corruption  of  the  people  whom  it  impoverished. 
We  saw  a  party,  which  advocated  and  defended  this  wrong, 
gaining  and   holding  power  in  the  government  by  the  shame 
less  appeal  to  selfishness  which  it  invited. 

We  saw  the  people  actually  burnishing  the  bonds  of  mis 
representation  and  misconception  which  held  them,  and  we 
sawsordidness  and  the  perversion  of  all  that  constitutes  good 
citizenship  on  every  hand,  and  sturdy  Americanism  in- jeopardy. 
We  saw  a  party  planning  to  retain  partisan  ascendency  by 
throttling  and  destroying  the  freedom  and  integrity  of  the 
suffrage  through  the  most  radical  and  reckless  legislation. 

We  saw  waste  and  extravagance  raiding  the  public  treasury, 
and  justified  in  official  places,  while  economy  in  government 
expenditures  was  ridiculed  by  those  who  held  in  trust  the 
people's  money. 

We  saw  the  national  assemblage  of  the  people  s  representa 
tives  transformed  to  the  mere  semblance  of  a  legislative  assem 
bly,  by  the  brute  force  of  a  violently-created  majority  and  by 
unprecedented  arbitrary  rulings,  while  it  was  jeeringly  declared, 
by  those  who  usurped  its  functions,  to  be  no  longer  a  delibera 
tive  body. 

Then  it  was  that  the  Democratic  party,  standing  forth  to  do 


SPEECHES    IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  3°5 

determined  battle  against  these  abuses,  which  threatened  the 
welfare  and  happiness  of  the  people,  called  upon  them  to  trust 
it,  and  promised  them  that  the  warfare  should  be  relentless  and 
uncompromising. 

As  results  of  the  struggle  then  entered  upon,  never  has  the 
resistless  force  of  the  awakened  thought  of  our  countrymen 
been  more  completely  demonstrated,  and  never  has  the  irre 
sistible  strength  of  the  principles  of  Democracy  been  more 
fully  exemplified.  From  the  West  and  from  the  East  came 
tidings  of  victory.  In  the  popular  branch  of  the  next  Congress 
the  party  which  lately  impudently  arrogated  to  itself  the  dom 
ination  of  that  body,  will  fill  hardly  more  than  one-fourth  of 
its  seats.  Democratic  Governors  occupy  the  enemy's  strong 
holds  in  Iowa,  Massachusetts,  Ohio,  Wisconsin,  and  Michigan. 
In  Pennsylvania,  the  election  of  a  Democratic  Governor  pre 
sented  conclusive  proof  of  Republican  corruption  exposed  and 
Republican  dishonesty  detected. 

But  with  all  these  results  of  a  just  and  fearless  Democratic 
policy,  our  work  is  not  yet  completely  done  ;  and  I  want  to 
suggest  to  you  that  any  relaxation  of  effort  within  the  lines 
established  by  the  National  Democracy  will  be  a  violation  of 
the  pledges  we  gave  the  people  when  we  invited  their  co 
operation  and  undertook  their  cause. 

I  do  not  forget  that  we  are  gathered  together  to  ratify  State 
nominations,  and  that  we  are  immediately  concerned  with  a 
State  campaign.  It  seems  to  me,  however,  that,  while  national 
questions  of  the  greatest  import  are  yet  unsettled,  and  when 
we  are  on  the  eve  of  a  national  campaign  in  which  they  must 
be  again  pressed  upon  the  attention  of  the  voters  of  the 
country,  the  Democracy  of  the  great  State  of  New  York 
cannot  and  will  not  entirely  ignore  them.  If  we  fail  to  retain 
ascendency  in  the  Empire  State,  no  matter  upon  what  issue  it 
is  lost,  and  no  matter  how  much  our  opponents  may  seek  to 
avoid  great  and  important  topics,  it  will  be  claimed  as  the 
verdict  of  our  people  against  the  principles  and  platform  of 
the  National  Democracy. 


3°6  SPEECHES    IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

It  is  evident  that  if  our  opponents  are  permitted  to 
choose  the  line  of  battle  they  will  avoid  all  national  issues. 
Thus  far  this  is  plainly  their  policy.  There  is  nothing  strange 
in  this,  for  they  may  well  calculate  that,  whatever  may  be  their 
fate  in  other  fields,  they  have  been  decisively  beaten  in  the 
discussion  of  national  questions.  It  can  hardly  be  expected 
that  they  will  come  to  the  field  of  Waterloo  again,  unless  forced 
to  do  so. 

1  am  very  far  from  having  any  fear  of  the  result  of  a  full 
discussion  of  the  subjects  which  pertain  to  State  affairs.  We 
have  an  abundance  of  reasons  to  furnish  why  on  these  issues 
alone  we  should  be  further  trusted  with  the  State  government; 
but  it  does  not  follow  that  it  is  wise  to  regard  matters  of  national 
concern  as  entirely  foreign  to  the  pending  canvass,  and  espe 
cially  to  follow  the  enemy  in  their  lead  entirely  away  from  the 
issues  they  most  fear  and  which  they  have  the  best  of  reasons 
to  dread.  This  very  fear  and  dread  give  in  this  particular 
case  strength  and  pertinency  to  the  doctrine  that  a  party  should 
at  all  times  and  in  all  places  be  made  to  feel  the  consequences 
of  their  misdeeds  as  long  as  they  have  remaining  any  power 
for  harm  and  as  long  as  they  justify  and  defend  their  wrong 
doing. 

Those  who  act  with  us  merely  because  they  approve  the 
present  position  of  the  National  Democracy  and  the  reforms  we 
have  undertaken,  and  who  oppose  in  national  affairs  Republi 
can  policy  and  methods,  and  who  still  think  the  State  cam 
paign  we  have  in  hand  has  no  relation  to  the  principles  and 
policy  which  they  approve,  are  in  danger  of  falling  into  a 
grave  error.  Our  opponents  in  the  pending  canvass,  though 
now  striving  hard  to  hide  their  identity  in  a  cloud  of  dust 
raised  by  their  iteration  of  irrelevant  things,  constitute  a  large 
factor  in  the  party  which,  still  far  from  harmless,  seeks  to  per 
petuate  all  the  wrongs  and  abuses  of  Republican  rule  in 
national  affairs.  Though  they  may  strive  to  appear  tame  and 
tractable  in  a  State  campaign,  they  but  dissemble  to  gain  a 
new  opportunity  for  harm. 


SPEECHES    IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  3°7 

In  the  present  condition  of  affairs  it  is  not  to  be  supposed 
that  any  consistent  and  thoughtful  member  of  the  Democratic 
organization  can  fail  to  see  it  his  duty  to  engage  enthusiastic 
ally  and  zealously  in  the  support  of  the  ticket  and  platform 
which  represent  our  party  in  this  campaign.  They  are 
abundantly  worthy  and  deserving  of  support  on  their  own 
merits  and  for  their  own  sake.  We  seek  to  place  at  the  head 
of  our  State  government  a  man  of  affairs,  who,  in  a  long  busi 
ness  career,  has  earned  the  good  opinion  and  respect  of  all  his 
fellows,  whose  honesty  and  trustworthiness  have  never  been 
impeached,  and  who,  I  am  sure,  will  administer  the  great  office, 
to  which  he  will  be  called,  independently,  fearlessly,  and  for 
the  good  of  all  the  people  of  the  State.  We  seek  further  to 
secure  the  Empire  State  in  her  Democratic  steadfastness,  and 
we  seek  to  win  a  victory  which  shall  redeem  the  pledges  we 
have  made  to  regard  constantly  the  interests  of  the  people  of 
the  land,  and  which  shall  give  hope  and  confidence  to  the 
National  Democracy  in  the  struggles  yet  to  come. 

With  these  incentives  and  witfi  these  purposes  in  view,  I 
cannot  believe  that  any  Democrat  can  be  guilty  of  lukewarm- 
ness  or  slothfulness. 

With  a  party  united  and  zealous ;  with  no  avoidance  of  any 
legitimate  issue  ;  with  a  refusal  to  be  diverted  from  the  consid 
eration  of  great  national  and  State  questions  to  the  discussion 
of  misleading  things;  and,  with  such  a  presentation  of  the  issues 
involved  as  will  prove  our  faith  in  the  intelligence  of  the  peo 
ple  of  the  State,  the  result  cannot  be  doubtful. 


VI. 

At  the  Brooklyn  Ratification  Meeting,  October 

14,  1891. 
MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS: 

It  does  not  need  the  cordial  welcome  you  give  me  to-night 
to  convince  me  that  I  am  among  friends.  The  good  will  and 
attachment  of  the  people  and  the  Democracy  of  Kings  County 


3°8  SPEECHES    IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

have  been  in  times  past  repeatedly  manifested  toward  me  and 
are  remembered  with  constant  gratitude.  There  was,  therefore 
a  potent  and  palpable  reason  why  1  should  not  decline  an  invi-' 
tation  to  be  with  you  to-night. 

Another  reason  not  less  strong  why  1  am  here  is  found  in 
the  fact  that  this  is  a  gathering  of  my  political  friends  in  the 
interest  of  the  Democratic  cause  and  in  token  of  their  hearty 
support  of  Democratic  principles  and  candidates.  In  such  an 
assemblage  I  always  feel  at  home. 

My  extreme  interest  in  the  State  campaign  now  pending 
arises  from  a  conception  of  its  importance,  which  I  do  not 
believe  is  at  all  exaggerated.  The  fact  that  it  immediately 
precedes  a  national  campaign  in  which  the  vote  of  New  York 
may  be  a  controlling  factor,  is,  of  itself,  sufficient  to  enlist  the 
activity  of  every  man  entitled  to  claim  a  place  in  Democratic 
councils.  Besides  this,  the  failure  on  the  part  of  the  Democ 
racy  of  the  State  to  emphasize  further  its  support  of  the  reforms 
to  which  the  National  Democracy  is  pledged,  we  must  all  con- 
fess  would  be  a  party  humiliation. 

There  are,  however,  reasons  beyond  these,  which  are  close 
at  home  and  have  relation  to  State  interests,  quite  sufficient 
to  arouse  supreme  Democratic  efforts.  There  are  dangers 
clearly  imminent,  and  schemes  almost  unconcealed,  which  affect 
our  State  and  which  can  only  be  avoided  and  defeated  by  the 
strong  and  determined  protest  of  the  united  Democracy  of 
New  York. 

The  party  we  oppose,  resting  upon  no  fundamental  princi 
ples,  sustaining  a  precarious  existence  upon  distorted  senti 
ment,  and  depending  for  success  upon  the  varying  currents  of 
selfish  interests  and  popular  misconception,  cannot  endure  the 
sight  of  a  community  which  is  inclined  to  withstand  its  blan 
dishments  and  which  refuses  to  be  led  away  by  its  misrepresen 
tations.  Thus,  in  its  national  management  and  methods  it 
boldly  seeks  to  thwart  the  intention  of  voters,  if  they  are  Dem 
ocratic,  and  to  stifle  the  voice  of  the  people,  if  they  speak  in 
Democratic  tones.  I  am  sure  it  is  not  necessary'to  remind 


SPEECHES   AV  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  3°9 

you  in  proof  of  this  of  the  latest  effort  of  our  opponents  at 
Washington  in  this  direction,  nor  to  speak  of  the  Democratic 
congratulation  which  spread  throughout  the  land  when,  by  the 
defeat  of  the  Force  Bill,  our  boasted  American  freedom  of 
suffrage  was  saved  and  constitutional  rights  preserved  through 
the  combined  efforts  of  a  Democratic  Senatorial  minority 
splendidly  led  and  grandly  sustained. 

Is  there  a  Democrat — nay,  is  there  any  man — so  dull  as  to 
suppose  that  the  Republican  party  in  this  State  is  not  of  the 
same  disposition  as  the  party  in  the  nation  ?  Do  not  the  atti 
tude  and  conduct  of  its  representatives  from  this  State  in 
national  affairs  abundantly  prove  that  the  party  in  New  York 
can  be  implicitly  trusted  to  aid  any  scheme  of  this  sort  that 
promises  partisan  advantage  ?  If  further  proof  is  desired  that 
New  York  Republicans  are  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  pro 
clivities  that  characterize  the  party  in  national  affairs,  it  is 
readily  found.  Under  the  positive  requirements  of  our  State 
Constitution  an  enumeration  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  State 
should  have  been  made  in  1885,  and  the  Senatorial  and  Assem 
bly  districts  newly  adjusted  in  accordance  with  such  an  enu 
meration.  This  has  not  yet  been  done,  though  our  opponents 
have  had  a  majority  in  both  branches  of  the  legislature  ever 
since  that  year,  except  that  in  the  last  session  a  Democratic 
majority  appeared  in  the  assembly.  A  Republican  reason  for  the 
neglect  of  a  plain  duty  in  the  matter  of  this  enumeration  is  found 
in  the  fact  that,  under  such  a  new  arrangement,  localities  which 
have  increased  in  population  and  at  the  same  time  in  Demo 
cratic  voters,  would  be  entitled  to  a  larger  representation  in  the 
legislature  than  they  now  have,  while  the  existing  adjustment  is 
a  very  comfortable  one  from  a  Republican  standpoint.  In  the 
present  condition,  it  is  calculated  that  a  Democratic  majority  in 
the  State  must  reach  at  least  50,000  in  order  to  give  us  a  major 
ity  in  the  assembly.  In  1885  we  elected  our  State  ticket  by  more 
than  IT, ooo  majority,  and  yet  but  50  Democratic  members  of 
assembly  were  elected,  while  the  defeated  party  elected  78. 
In  1886  our  majority  was  nearly  8000,  but  only  54  Democratic 


STO  SPEECHES    /AT  POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

assemblymen  were  elected,  to  74  Republicans.  In  1887  a 
Democratic  majority  on  our  State  ticket  of  more  than  17,000 
yielded  only  56  Democratic  assemblymen  to  72  Republican. 
In  1888,  though  the  State  ticket  was  carried  by  a  majority  not 
much  less,  we  had  but  49  assemblymen  to  79  for  the  defeated 
opposition.  In  1889  with  a  majority  of  over  20,000  on  our 
State  ticket  we  elected  but  57  assemblymen,  while  the  .defeated 
party  secured  71.  In  1890  we  carried  the  State  on  the  con 
gressional  vote  by  more  than  75,000  majority,  and  yet  elected 
but  68  members  of  assembly  to  60  elected  by  the  party  so 
largely  in  the  minority. 

Whatever  may  be  said  about  the  quarrels  between  a  Dem 
ocratic  Governor  and  a  Republican  Legislature  over  the  man 
ner  in  which  a  new  enumeration  should  be  made,  there  is  no 
difficulty  in  finding  enough,  in  Republican  disposition  and 
practices,  to  justify  the  suspicion  that  any  pretext  was  wel 
come,  to  the  representatives  of  that  party  in  the  State,  that 
would  serve  to  perpetuate  the  present  condition.  There  is  no 
reason  to  hope  for  a  better  and  more  just  representation  of 
the  political  sentiments  of  the  people  of  the  State  except 
through  a  complete  dislodgment  of  those  who  have  long 
profited  by  this  injustice.  Its  continuance  is  directly  involved 
in  the  present  campaign,  for  not  only  a  Governor,  but  a  new 
senate  and  assembly  are  to  be  elected.  No  election  will  soon 
occur  that  will  afford  so  good  an  opportunity  to  secure  to  our 
party  the  share  in  State  legislation  to  which  it  is  entitled,  nor 
will  the  Democratic  party  soon  have  so  good  a  chance  to  rec 
tify  a  political  wrong. 

By  way  of  further  suggesting  the  importance  of  this  cam 
paign,  I  ask  you  not  to  forget  that  a  new  apportionment  of 
representatives  in  Congress  is  to  be  made  on  the  basis  of  the 
census  just  completed,  and  that  it  may  devolve  upon  the  next 
legislature  to  readjust  the  congressional  districts  of  the  State. 
Previous  to  1883  these  districts  were  so  arranged  that,  though 
in  1880  our  opponents  carried  the  State  by  only  about  twenty- 
one  thousand,  they  secured  twenty  congressman  to  thirteen 


SPEECHES   IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  311 

elected  by  the  Democrats,  while  in  1882,  though  the  Dem 
ocratic  candidate  for  Governor  had  a  majority  of  more  than 
one  hundred  and  ninety  thousand,  there  were  elected  but 
twenty-one  Democratic  congressmen,  one  being  a  citizen  of 
Brooklyn,  elected  at  large,  while  the  party  in  the  minority 
elected  thirteen  representatives.  The  change  of  congres 
sional  districts  made  in  1883,  by  a  Democratic  legislature  and 
approved  by  a  Democratic  Governor,  may  well  be  referred  to 
as  an  illustration  of  Democratic  fairness.  In  the  election  of 
1884,  the  first  held  under  the  new  arrangement,  our  national 
ticket  carried  the  State  by  a  small  majority,  but  the  congres 
sional  delegation  was  equally  divided  between  the  parties. 
In  both  the  elections  of  1886  and  1888,  though  the  Dem 
ocratic  State  ticket  was  elected  by  moderate  majorities, 
our  opponents  elected  nineteen  congressmen,  while  only 
fifteen  were  secured  by  the  party  having  a  majority  of  votes 
in  the  State.  It  required  a  Democratic  majority  in  the  State 
of  75,000  to  secure  at  the  last  election  only  three  congressmen 
above  the  number  elected  by  our  opponents  under  the  former 
adjustment,  when  their  State  ticket  had  not  much  more  than 
one-fourth  of  that  majority. 

I  am  far  from  complaining  of  the  present  congressional  ad 
justment.  On  the  contrary,  I  am  glad  that  my  party  was 
more  than  just  and  fair  when  it  had  the  opportunity.  But  I 
want  to  put  the  inquiry  whether,  judging  from  the  past  con 
duct  of  our  opponents  in  such  matters,  and  from  what  seems 
to  be  their  natural  disposition,  there  is  the  least  chance  of  their 
dealing  fairly  by  the  Democracy  of  the  State  if  they  have  the 
control  of  the  next  arrangement  of  congressional  districts. 

I  purposely  refrain  from  detaining  you  with  the  presenta 
tion  of  other  considerations  which  impress  me  with  the  im 
portance  at  this  time  of  Democratic  activity,  but  I  cannot 
avoid  recalling  the  fact  that  I  am  in  an  atmosphere  where  the 
doctrine  of  home  rule  has  especially  flourished,  and  among  a 
community  where  this  Democratic  doctrine  has  been  un 
usually  exemplified.  Let  me  remind  you  that  no  Democratic 


3 J2          SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL  CAN 

locality  can  exist  without  attracting  to  it  the  wistful  gaze  of 
those  who  find  an  adherence  to  the  doctrine  of  home  rule  and 
an  attachment  to  the  Democratic  faith,  obstacles  to  the  polit 
ical  advantage  they  seek  to  gain  without  scruple  as  to  their 
method  of  procedure. 

I  need  not  say  that  the  safety  of  Democracy,  in  the  State 
and  here  at  your  home,  is  only  to  be  preserved  by  Democratic 
steadfastness.  I  do  not  forget  how  often  and  how  effectively 
you  have  displayed  that  steadfastness  in  the  past,  nor  do  I 
forget  your  service  to  the  State  when  you  contributed  to 
places  of  trust  in  its  government  and  administration  the  intel 
ligence,  fidelity,  and  ability  of  your  fellow-townsman  who 
soon  retires  from  the  chief  magistracy  of  your  city  ;  and  I  will 
stifle  my  complaint  that,  in  selecting  his  successor,  you  have  re 
called  a  recent  and  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  cause  of 
Democracy  in  national  councils. 

In  your  relation  to  the  pending  canvass,  every  Democrat 
who  loves  his  country  and  his  party  must  acknowledge  the 
important  service  rendered  by  representatives  of  Kings 
County  in  aiding  the  formulation  of  a  declaration  of  financial 
principles  in  the  platform  which  the  Democracy  presents  to 
the  voters  of  the  State,  which  leaves  no  room  to  doubt  our  in- 
sistance  upon  sound  and  honest  money  for  all  the  people. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  assure  you  that  I  have  absolute  con 
fidence,  based  upon  what  you  are  and  what  you  have  done  in 
the  past,  that  in  the  campaign  upon  which  we  have  entered, 
the  Democrats  of  Kings  County  will  more  than  ever  exhibit 
their  devotion  to  the  Democratic  cause. 


VII. 

Before  the  Business  Mens  Democratic  Association  in  Madison 
Square  Garden,  New  York,  October  27,  1891. 

FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

I  am  glad  to   have   the   opportunity  to   be  present  on  this 
occasion,   even  though  I  am  able  to  do  but  little  more  than 


SPEECHES    IN  POLITICAL   CANVASSES.  3*3 

speak  a  word  of  greeting  to  the  representatives  of  our  business 
interests  who  are  here  assembled. 

You  have  heard  much,  and  have  doubtless  reflected  much, 
concerning  the  important  results  which  depend  upon  the  polit 
ical  action  of  the  people  of  our  State  at  the  coming  election, 
and  I  am  glad  to  believe  that  the  business  men  of  the  city  of 
New  York  understand  that  this  political  campaign  is  not  only 
important  to  them  in  common  with  all  their  fellow-citizens, 
but  that  there  are  features  in  it  which  especially  concern 
them. 

It  must  be  confessed  that  both  here  and  in  other  parts  of 
the  country,  those  engaged  in  business  pursuits  have  kept  too 
much  aloof  from  public  affairs  and  have  too  generally  acted 
upon  the  theory  that  neither  their  duty  as  citizens  nor  their 
personal  interests  required  of  them  any  habitual  participation 
in  political  movements.  This  indifference  and  inactivity  have 
resulted  in  a  loss  to  our  public  service.  I  am  firmly  of  the 
belief  that,  if  a  few  business  men  could  be  substituted  for  pro 
fessional  men  in  official  places,  the  people  would  positively 
gain  by  the  exchange.  And  it  is  strange  to  me  that  our 
business  men  have  not  been  quicker  to  see  that  their  neglect 
of  political  duty  is  a  constant  danger  to  their  personal  and 
especial  interests.  They  may  labor  and  plan,  in  their  counting 
houses  or  in  their  Exchanges,  but,  in  the  meantime,  laws  may 
be  passed  by  those  ignorant  of  their  business  bearings,  which, 
in  their  operation,  will  counteract  all  this  labor  and  defeat  all 
this  planning. 

I  have  expressed  the  belief  that  the  business  men  of  our 
city  are  aroused  to  the  fact  that  there  are  questions  involved 
in  the  campaign  in  this  State  which  concern  them  and  their 
welfare  in  an  unusual  way.  This  is  indicated  by  awakened 
interest  on  every  side  and  by  this  immense  demonstration. 
And  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  it  could  be  otherwise. 

The  city  of  New  York  as  the  center  of  all  that  makes  ours 
the  Empire  State,  and  as  the  great  heart  from  which  life-giving 
currents  flow  to  all  parts  of  the  country,  cannot  be  indifferent 


3H  SPEECHES   IN  POLITICAL   CANVASSES. 

to  the  questions,  both  State  and  national,  which  have  relation 
to  the  State  campaign  now  nearly  closed. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  topics  which  should  be  dis 
cussed  in  the  prosecution  of  this  campaign.  It  has  been 
contended  that  the  canvass  should  be  confined  to  State  issues, 
and  it  has  been  claimed  that  national  issues  should  be  most 
prominently  considered.  I  conceive  the  truth  to  be  that  both 
are  proper  subjects  of  discussion  at  this  time  ;  and,  in  the 
presence  of  this  assemblage,  called  together  to  consider  the 
business  features  of  the  contest,  I  am  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  the  best  test  to  employ,  by  way  of  discovering  the  legiti 
macy  of  any  topic  in  the  pending-  campaign,  is  to  inquire 
whether  it  is  connected  with  the  good  of  the  country  and  with 
the  business  of  the  city  and  State,  and  whether  it  will  be  at  all 
influenced  by  the  results  of  the  canvass. 

Can  anyone  doubt  that  the  political  verdict  which  the 
people  of  New  York  will  give  in  November  next,  will  affect  her 
position  in  the  general  national  engagement  which  will  take 
place  one  year  hence  ?  In  this  view,  the  proper  adjustment  of 
the  tariff,  which  concerns  so  materially  not  only  all-  our  people, 
but  the  commerce  and  the  business  of  our  city,  should  be 
discussed.  This,  and  the  question  of  sound  currency,  cannot 
be  separated  from  the  business  interests  of  our  State  ;  and 
they  should  be  put  before  our  people  now  for  the  purpose  of 
inviting  their  thought  and  settling  their  opinions. 

Applying  this  same  test,  it  is  entirely  plain  that  an  econom 
ical  administration  of  State  affairs  and  the  numerous  other 
subjects  having  reference  to  a  just,  honest,  and  beneficent 
State  government  are,  in  a  business  sense,  important  and 
legitimate. 

On  all  these  questions  the  New  York  Democracy  is  right  ; 
and  we  are  willing  and  anxious  to  discuss  them  in  any  place 
and  at  any  time. 

But  our  opponents,  apparently  seeking  to  avoid  the  dis 
cussion  of  subjects  legitimate  to  the  canvass  and  affecting  the 
business  of  our  city  and  State,  and  exhibiting  such  weakness 


SPEECHES   IN  POLITICAL   CANVASSES.  3*5 

and  fear  as  certainly  ought  not  to  escape  notice,  are  shrieking 
throughout  the  State  the  demerits  and  dangerous  proclivities 
of  a  certain  political  organization  whose  members  support  the 
principles  and  candidates  of  the  Democratic  party.  It  would 
be  quite  easy  to  show  that,  even  if  all  they  allege  against  this 
organization  were  true,  the  perils  our  opponents  present  to  the 
people  are  baseless  and  absurd.  But  it  seems  to  me  the  argu 
ment  of  such  a  question  belittles  an  important  situation. 

Every  man  knows,  or  ought  to  satisfy  himself  whether  the 
principles  and  policy  presented  to  the  people  by  the  Demo 
cratic  party  are  such  as  he  approves.  If  they  are,  certainly 
his  duty  as  a  citizen  obliges  him  to  indorse  them.  Every 
man  ought  to  satisfy  himself  whether  the  candidates  of  the 
Democratic  party  are  men  of  such  character  and  ability  that  he  is 
willing  to  trust  them  in  the  administration  of  his  State  govern 
ment.  If  he  believes  they  are,  he  should  not  withhold  his 
support  from  them  upon  any  frivolous  and  irrelevant  pretext. 

The  exercise  of  the  right  of  suffrage  is  a  serious  business  ; 
and  a  man's  vote  ought  to  express  his  opinion  on  the  questions 
at  issue.  This  it  utterly  fails  to  do  if  the  vj3ter  listens  to  the 
ravings  of  our  opponents,  and  allows  his  vote  merely  to  record 
the  extent  to  which  he  has  yielded  to  the  misleading  and 
cunningly  devised  appeals  to  his  prejudices,  made  in  behalf  of  a 
desperate  and  discredited  minority.  Such  a  vote  does  not 
influence,  in  the  least,  the  real  settlement  of  any  of  the  weighty 
matters  of  policy  and  principle  upon  which  the  people  are 
called  to  pronounce  judgment. 

If  enough  such  votes  should  be  given  to  cause  a  false  ver 
dict  in  the  State,  those  who  should  contribute  to  that  result, 
and  thus  become  disloyal  to  their  beliefs,  would  find  every 
thing  but  satisfaction  in  their  self-reproach,  and  in  their  sense 
of  degradation  which  would  follow  the  unconcealed  contempt 
of  those  partisans  who  had  duped  them  for  the  purpose  of  thus 
gaining  a  party  advantage  not  otherwise  possible. 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  disclaim  any  fear  that  the  business 
men  of  New  York  can  be  thus  deluded.  They  will  not  only 


3l  SPEECHES    IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

apprehend  the  questions  at  issue,  and  see  their  duty  and 
interest,  in  soberly  passing  upon  them  without  prejudice  or 
passion,  but  they  will  also  appreciate  the  fact  that  the  ticket 
they  are  asked  by  the  Democratic  party  to  support  expressly 
recognizes  them.  It  is  headed  by  a  man  of  business,  who  is 
certainly  entitled  to  their  confidence,  and  who  is  so  creditable 
as  their  representative,  that  I  believe  his  business  character 
has  escaped  attack  during  a  campaign  in  which  every  attack 
having  any  pretext  whatever  has  been  made.  I  will  not  espe 
cially  refer  by  name  to  the  remainder  of  our  candidates — some 
of  whom  are  my  old  and  near  friends — because  I  think  I  ought 
not  to  detain  you  longer  than  to  say  that  they  are  all  entirely 
worthy  of  support,  and  that  by  the  triumphant  election  of 
every  one  of  them  the  verdict  of  the  people  of  the  State  ought 
to  be  recorded  in  favor  of  good  government  and  the  advance 
ment  of  business  interests. 


VIII. 

In   Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  October  31,  1891. 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

1  should  be  quite  uncomfortable  at  this  moment  if  I  sup 
posed  you  regarded  me  as  a  stranger  in  your  State,  and  only 
concerned  as  a  Democratic  spectator  of  the  political  campaign 
which  stirs  the  people  of  this  commonwealth.  I  hope  it  is  not 
necessary  to  remind  you  that,  by  virtue  of  a  sort  of  initiation 
which  I  have  recently  undergone,  I  have  a  right  to  claim  a 
modified  membership  in  the  citizenship  of  Massachusetts  ; 
and  though  I  am  obliged  to  confess  a  limitation  in  the  extent 
of  this  citizenship  I  am  somewhat  compensated  by  what  seems 
to  me  to  be  its  quality.  So  far  as  I  have  a  residence  among 
you,  it  is  the  place  where,  amid  quiet  and  peaceful  surround 
ings,  I  enjoy  that  home  life  I  so  much  love,  where  relaxation 
from  labor  and  from  care  restores  health  and  vigor,  and  where 
recreation,  in  pleasing  variety,  teaches  me  the  lesson  that  man's 


IN  POLITIC  A  I.    CANVASSES.  31? 

duty  and  mission  are  not  only  to  do  the  work  which  his  rela 
tions  to  his  fellow-men  impose  upon  him,  but  to  appreciate  the 
things  which  the  goodness  of  God  supplies  in  nature  for  man's 
delight.  While,  therefore,  no  conditions  could  cause  the  least 
abatement  in  the  pride  I  feel  as  a  fully  qualified  citizen  of  the 
great  State  of  New  York,  1  cannot  be  insensible  to  the  fact 
that  my  relationship  to  Massachusetts  connects  your  State 
with  the  elements  in  my  life  which  are  full  of  delightful  senti 
ment  and  with  those  enjoyments  which  enlarge  and  cultivate 
the  heart  and  soul. 

1  have  spent  to-day  at  my  Massachusetts  home,  and  meet 
you  here  pursuant  to  a  promise  that,  on  my  way  out  of  the 
State,  I  would  look  in  on  this  assemblage  of  those  who  are 
enlisted  in  a  grand  and  noble  cause. 

It  is  but  natural  that  my  errand  to  your  State,  and  the  in 
spection  of  that  part  of  its  soil  of  which  I  am  the  self-satisfied 
owner,  should  arouse  ail  the  Massachusetts  feeling  to  which 
this  ownership  entitles  me,  and  should  intensify  that  interest 
in  the  political  behavior  of  the  State  which  rightfully  belongs 
to  my  semi-citizenship. 

My  relations  to  you  are,  perhaps,  too  new-fledged  to  shield 
me  from  an  accusation  of  affectation  if  I  should  dwell,  with  the 
rapture  others  might  more  properly  exhibit,  upon  the  history, 
traditions,  and  achievements  of  Massachusetts.  I  am  sure, 
however,  that  I  may,  with  perfect  propriety,  remind  you  that 
the  people  of  Massachusetts  have  in  their  keeping  certain 
precious  things  which  they  hold  in  trust  for  all  their  country 
men.  They  can  no  more  appropriate  Plymouth  Rock  and 
Bunker  Hill  than  they  can  confine  within  the  limits  of  their 
State  the  deeds,  the  example,  and  the  fame  of  the  men  whom 
Massachusetts  contributed  to  the  public  service  of  the  Nation 
in  the  days  when  giants  lived. 

The  influence  of  your  State  upon  the  politics  of  the  country 
has  by  no  means  been  limited  to  the  actual  share  she  and  her 
representative  men  have  taken  in  governmental  management. 
Her  stake  in  the  creation  and  the  development  of  our  country 


3l8  SPEECHES    IN  POLITIC  AT.    CANVASSES. 

took  form  in  its  embryonic  clays  ;  and  this  has  given  rise  from 
the  beginning  to  the  interested  discussion  among  her  people 
of  every  public  question,  while  the  education  and  general  in 
formation  of  her  population  have  made  such  discussion  intel 
ligent  and  forceful.  Her  schools  and  her  institutions  of  learn 
ing  have  sent  to  all  parts  of  the  land  young  and  thoughtful 
men,  imbued  with  sentiments  and  opinions  not  learned  in  their 
books.  When  her  feeling  has  been  most  aroused  she  has 
challenged  the  respect  of  the  country  because,  though  uncom 
promising,  she  has  been  habitually  just,  and,  though  radical, 
she  has  been  always  great. 

1  cannot  help  recalling  at  this  moment  that  you  gave  to  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States  the  man  who  is  remembered  by 
all  his  countrymen  as  the  best  modern  embodiment  of  Ameri 
can  greatness  ;  that  Webster,  though  he  loved  freedom  and 
hated  slavery,  never  consented  to  the  infringement  of  constitu 
tional  rights,  even  for  the  sake  of  freedom  ;  that,  though  his 
love  for  Massachusetts  was  his  consuming  sentiment,  he 
emphatically  declared  that  in  the  discharge  of  public  duty  he 
would  neither  regard  her  especial  interests  nor  her  desires  as 
against  his  conception  of  the  general  interests  of  the  country, 
and  that  his  patriotism  and  his  love  for  the  Union  were  so 
great  that  he  constantly  sought  to  check  the  first  sign  of 
estrangement  among  our  people. 

I  recall  the  love  of  Massachusetts  for  the  memory  of  Sum- 
ner — the  great  Senator  who  unhesitatingly  braved  Executive 
displeasure  and  party  ostracism  in  loyalty  to  his  sense  of  right; 
who  surprised  and  alienated  a  sentiment,  born  of  patriotic 
warmth,  by  advocating  the  obliteration  of  the  reminders  of  the 
triumphs  of  American  soldiers  over  American  soldiers  ;  and 
who,  throughout  a  long  public  career,  illustrated  his  belief  that 
politics  is  but  the  application  of  moral  principle  to  public 
affairs. 

If,  from  the  contemplation  of  these  lofty  precedents,  you  turn 
to  the  manner  in  which  the  sentiment  and  feeling  of  Massachus 
etts  have  of  late  been  represented  in  both  houses  of  Congress, 


SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  3T9 

and  if  you  thus  find  an  unpleasing  contrast,  it  is  for  you  to  say 
whether  you  are  satisfied  ;  but,  if  this  feeling  and  sentiment, 
genuine  and  unperverted,  ought  to  bear  the  fruits  of  concilia 
tion  and  trust  among  our  countrymen,  the  avoidance  of  un 
necessary  irritation,  and  the  abandonment  of  schemes  which 
promise  no  better  result  than  party  supremacy  through  forced 
and  unnatural  suffrage,  there  certainly  seems  to  be  ground  for 
apprehension  that  there  has  lately  been  something  awry  in 
your  Federal  representation.  At  any  rate,  it  seems  to  me  that 
the  people  themselves,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  are  con 
stantly  giving  proof  that  they  are  ready  and  willing,  obedient 
to  a  generous  instinct  and  for  the  good  of  the  entire  country, 
to  aid  in  building  up  American  fraternity  based  upon  mutual 
faith  and  confidence,  and  in  restoring  and  reviving  that  unity 
and  heartiness  of  aim  and  purpose  upon  which  alone  our  na 
tional  hope  can  securely  rest. 

We  have  fallen  upon  a  time  when  especial  interest  is  aroused 
among  our  people  in  subjects  which  seem  to  be  vital  to  the 
welfare  of  the  country.  Our  consumers,  those  of  moderate 
means  and  the  poor  of  the  land,  are  too  much  neglected  in  our 
national  policy;  their  life  is  made  too  hard  for  them,  and  too 
much  favor  is  shown  to  pampered  manufactures  and  rich 
monopolies.  A  condition  of  restlessness  and  irritation  has 
grown  up  throughout  the  country,  born  of  prevailing  inequality 
and  unfairness,  which  threatens  an  attack  upon  sound  currency, 
and  which  awakens  the  fear  and  anxious  solicitude  of  thought 
ful  and  patriotic  men  ;  economy  in  public  expenditure  has 
almost  become  a  byword  and  jest;  and  partisanship  in  power 
executes  its  will  by  methods  unprecedented  and  ruthless. 

I  have  believed  that  the  Democratic  party  was  right  in  its 
position  on  all  these  subjects  ;  and  I  am  willing  to  confess  that 
my  belief  is  confirmed  by  the  verdict  of  the  people  of  Mas 
sachusetts.  When  I  see  the  old  Commonwealth  break  away 
from  party  trammels  in  aid  of  right  and  honesty,  when  I  see  a 
majority  of  her  last  elected  representatives  in  Congress  chosen 
to  enforce  the  principles  we  profess,  and  when  I  see  her  put  at 


320  SPEKCHKS    IN   POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

the  head  of  her  State  government  one  of  her  young  sons,  who 
stands  for  these  principles  in  the  truest,  cleanest,  and  most 
vigorous  way,  1  am  prepared  to  see,  following  the  lead  of  Mas 
sachusetts,  such  a  revival  of  moral  sentiment  in  politics  as  will 
insure  the  general  acceptance,  by  our  countrymen,  of  the  truths 
we  preach. 

Any  man  who  fails  to  appreciate  the  immense  motive  power 
of  the  conscience  of  Massachusetts  has  viewed  to  little  purpose 
the  movements  which  have  made  their  impress  on  our  coun 
try's  history,  and  which  have  led  our  national  destiny.  On 
the  splendid  roster  of  those  here  enlisted  in  our  cause,  and 
among  the  thousands  recorded  there  who  have  seen  beyond 
party  lines  the  morals  of  political  questions,  are  found  the 
names  of  Adams  and  Everett  and  Andrew  and  Quincy  and 
Garrison  and  Higginson  and  Pierce  and  Eliot  and  Hoar  and 
Codman  and  Williams — giving  proof  that  the  people's  cause 
has  touched  the  conscience  of  Massachusetts. 

The  hearts  of  patriotic  men  in  many  States  are  warmed  with 
gratitude  for  the  strong  and  able  young  men  your  Common 
wealth  has  contributed  to  our  public  life  in  this  time  of  her 
awakening. 

Again,  their  eyes  are  turned  to  Massachusetts.  Young  and 
vigorous  Americanism  has  watched  with  pride  and  enthusiasm 
its  best  representative  at  the  head  of  your  State  government, 
and  those  who  love  true  Democracy  have  rejoiced  far  and  wide 
that  one  who  embodies  their  principles  so  truly,  and  exemplifies 
them  so  wisely,  has  borne  himself  so  nobly.  They  look  to  the 
people  of  Massachusetts  to  recognize  the  faithful  services  of 
their  young  Governor  and  the  manner  in  which  he  has  upheld 
the  dignity  and  honor  of  their  State  before  their  countrymen 
everywhere.  They  look  to  you,  by  his  election  and  by  the 
election  of  all  the  good  men  and  true  who,  with  him,  bear  the 
standard  of  your  State  Democracy,  to  demonstrate  your  stead 
fastness  in  the  Democratic  cause.  They  look  to  you  to  give 
to  the  national  Democracy  and  the  cause  of  the  people,  which 


SPEECHES   IN  POLITICAL   CANVASSES.  321 

it  has  in  charge,  the  powerful  aid  of  the  still  awakened  con- 
science  of  Massachusetts. 

Democrats    of    Massachusetts — men    of     Massachusetts — 
which  shall  your  response  be  ? 


IX. 

In  the  Opera  House  at  Providence^  R.  /.,  April  2,  1 892. 

MY  FELLOW-CITIZENS  : 

I  have  found  it  impossible  to  decline  the  invitation  you  sent 
me  to  meet  here  to-day  the  Democracy  of  Rhode  Island.  I 
have  come  to  look  in  the  faces  of  the  men  who  have  been  given 
the  place  of  honor  in  the  advance  of  the  vast  army  which 
moves  toward  the  decisive  battlefield  of  next  November.  I 
have  not  come  to  point  the  way  to  consolation  in  case  of  your 
defeat,  but  I  have  come  to  share  the  enthusiasm  which  pre 
sages  victory.  I  have  not  come  to  condole  with  you  upon  the 
difficulties  which  confront  you,  but  to  suggest  that  they  will 
only  add  to  the  glory  of  your  triumph.  I  have  come  to  remind 
you  that  the  intrenchments  of  spoils  and  patronage  cannot 
avail  against  the  valor  and  determination  of  right ;  that  cor 
ruption  and  bribery  cannot  smother  and  destroy  the  aroused 
conscience  of  our  countrymen,  and  that  splendid  achievements 
await  those  who  bravely,  honestly,  and  stubbornly  fight  in  the 
people's  cause. 

Let  us  not  for  a  moment  miss  the  inspiration  of  those 
words,  "  The  People's  Cause."  They  signify  the  defense 
of  the  rights  of  every  man,  rich  or  poor,  in  every  corner 
of  our  land,  who,  by  virtue  of  simple  American  manhood, 
lays  claim  to  the  promises  of  our  free  government,  and 
they  mean  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  the 
humblest  American  citizen  who  confidingly  invokes  the  pro 
tection  of  just  and  equal  laws. 

The  covenant  of  our  Democratic  faith,  as  I  understand  it, 


322  SPEKCIIES  IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES, 

exacts  constant  effort  in  this  cause,  and  its  betrayal  I  conceive 
to  be  a  crime  against  the  creed  of  true  Democracy. 

The  struggle  in  which  you  are  engaged  arrests  the  attention 
of  your  party  brethren  in  every  State  ;  and  they  pause  in  their 
preparation  for  the  general  engagement,  near  at  hand,  in  which 
all  will  be  in  the  field,  and  look  toward  Rhode  Island  with 
hope  and  trust.  They  read  the  legends  on  your  banners  and 
they  hear  your  rallying  cries,  and  know  that  your  fight  is  in 
the  people's  cause. 

If  you  should  be  defeated  there  will  be  no  discouragement 
in  this  vast  waiting  army  ;  but  you  will  earn  their  plaudits  and 
cover  yourselves  with  glory  by  winning  success. 

Large  and  bright  upon  your  banners  are  blazoned  the  words 
:<  Tariff  Reform  "—the  shibboleth  of  true  Democracy  and  the 
test  of  loyalty  to  the  people's  cause. 

Those  who  oppose  tariff  reform  delude  themselves  if  they  sup 
pose  that  it  rests  wholly  upon  appeals  to  selfish  considerations 
and  the  promise  of  advantage,  right  or  wrong  ;  or  that  our  only 
hope  of  winning  depends  upon  arousing  animosity  between 
different  interests  among  our  people.  While  we  do  not  pro 
pose  that  those  whose  welfare  we  champion  shall  be  blind  to 
the  advantages  accruing  to  them  from  our  plan  of  tariff  reform, 
and  while  we  are  determined  that  these  advantages  shall  not 
be  surrendered  to  the  blandishments  of  greed  and  avarice,  we 
still  claim  nothing  that  has  not  underlying  it  moral  sentiment 
and  considerations  of  equity  and  good  conscience. 

Because  our  case  rests  upon  such  foundations,  sordidness 
and  selfishness  cannot  destroy  it.  The  fight  for  justice  and 
right  is  a  clean  and  comforting  one  ;  and  because  the  Ameri 
can  people  love  justice  and  right,  ours  must  be  a  winnino- 
fight. 

"The  government  of  the  Union  is  a  government  of  the 
people  ;  it  emanates  from  them  ;  its  powers  are  granted  by 
them,  and  are  to  be  exercised  directly  on  them  and  for  their 
benefit." 

This  is  not  the  language  of  a   political  platform.     It  is  a 


SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL   CANVASSES.  323 

declaration  of  the  highest  court  in  the  land,  whose  mandates 
all  must  obey,  and  whose  definitions  all  partisans  must  accept. 

In  the  light  of  this  exposition  of  the  duty  the  government 
owes  to  the  people,  the  Democratic  party  claims  that  when, 
through  Federal  taxation,  burdens  are  laid  upon  the  daily  life 
of  the  people,  not  necessary  for  the  government's  economical 
administration,  and  intended,  whatever  be  the  pretext,  to  enrich 
a  few  at  the  expense  of  the  many,  the  governmental  compact 
is  violated. 

A  distinguished  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  with  no 
Democratic  affiliations,  but  loved  and  respected  when  living 
by  every  American,  and  since  his  death  universally  lamented, 
has  characterized  such  a  proceeding  as  "  none  the  less  a  rob 
bery  because  it  is  done  under  the  forms  of  law  and  is  called 
taxation." 

Let  us  then  appreciate  the  fact  that  we  not  only  stand  upon 
sure  and  safe  ground  when  we  appeal  to  honesty  and  morality 
in  our  championship  of  the  interests  of  the  masses  of  out- 
people  as  they  are  related  to  tariff  taxation,  but  that  our  mis 
sion  is  invested  with  the  highest  patriotism  when  we  attempt 
to  preserve  from  perversion,  distortion,  and  decay  the  justice, 
equality,  and  moral  integrity  which  are  the  constituent  ele 
ments  of  our  scheme  of  popular  government. 

Those  who  believe  in  tariff  reform,  for  the  substantial  good 
it  will  bring  to  the  multitude  who  are  neglected  when  selfish 
greed  is  in  the  ascendency  ;  those  who  believe  that  the  legiti 
mate  motive  of  our  government  is  to  do  equal  and  exact  justice 
to  all  our  people,  and  grant  especial  privileges  to  none  ;  those 
who  believe  that  a  nation,  boasting  that  its  foundation  is  in 
honesty  and  conscience,  cannot  afford  to  discard  moral  senti 
ment  ;  and  those  who  would  save,  our  institutions  from  the  un 
dermining  decay  of  sordidness  and  selfishness,  can  hardly 
excuse  themselves  if  they  fail  to  join  us  in  the  crusade  we  have 
undertaken.  Certainly  our  sincerity  cannot  be  questioned. 
In  the  beginning  of  the  struggle  we  were  not  only  bitterly  op 
posed  by  a  great  party  of  avowed  enemies,  but  were  embar- 


324  SPEECHES    IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

rassed  by  those  in  our  own  ranks  who  had  become  infected 
with  the  unwholesome  atmosphere  our  enemies  had  created. 
We  hesitated  not  a  moment  boldly  to  encounter  both.  We 
unified  our  party,  not  by  any  surrender  to  the  half-hearted 
among  our  members,  but  by  an  honest  appeal  to  Democratic 
sentiment  and  conscience.  We  have  never  lowered  our  stand 
ard.  It  surely  was  not  policy  nor  expediency  that  induced  us 
defiantly  to  carry  the  banner  of  tariff  reform  as  we  went  forth 
to  meet  a  well-organized  and  desperately  determined  army  in 
the  disastrous  field  of  1888.  A  time-serving  or  expediency- 
hunting  party  would  hardly  have  been  found,  the  day  after 
such  a  crushing  defeat,  undismayed,  defiant,  and  determined  : 
still  shouting  the  old  war  cry,  and  anxious  to  encounter  again 
in  the  people's  cause  our  exultant  enemy.  We  had  not  long 
to  wait.  At  the  Waterloo  of  1890,  tariff  reform  had  its  vindi 
cation,  and  principle  and  steadfast  devotion  to  American  fair 
ness  and  good  faith  gloriously  triumphed  over  plausible  shifti 
ness  and  attempted  popular  deception. 

The  Democratic  party  still  champions  the  cause  which  de 
feat  could  not  induce  it  to  surrender,  which  no  success,  short 
of  complete  accomplishment,  can  tempt  it  to  neglect.  Its  posi 
tion  has  been  from  the  first  frankly  and  fairly  stated,  and  no 
one  can  honestly  be  misled  concerning  it.  We  invite  the 
strictest  scrutiny  of  our  conduct  in  dealing  with  this  subject, 
and  we  insist  that  our  cause  has  been  open,  fair,  and  consist 
ent.  I  believe  this  is  not  now  soberly  denied  in  any  quar 
ter. 

Our  opponents,  too,  have  a  record  on  this  question.  Those 
who  still  adhere  to  the  doctrine  that  an  important  function  of 
the  government  is  especially  to  aid  them  in  their  business ; 
those  who  only  see  in  the  consumers  of  our  land  forced  con 
tributors  to  artificial  benefits  permitted  by  governmental 
favoritism  ;  those  who  sec  in  our  workingmen  only  the  tools 
with  which  their  shops  and  manufactories  are  to  be  supplied 
at  the  cheapest  possible  cost,  and  those  who  believe  there  is  no 
moral  question  involved  in  the  tariff  taxation  of  the  people,  are 


SPEECHES  IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  325 

probably  familiar  with  this  record  and  abundantly  satisfied 
with  it. 

It  may,  however,  be  profitably  reviewed  by  those  who  be 
lieve  that  integrity  and  good  faith  have  to  do  with  govern 
mental  operations,  and  who  honestly  confess  that  present  tariff 
burdens  are  not  justly  and  fairly  distributed.  Such  a  review 
may  also  be  of  interest  to  those  who  believe  that  our  con 
sumers  are  entitled  to  be  treated  justly  and  honestly  by  the 
government,  and  that  the  workingman  should  be  allowed  to 
feel  in  his  humble  home,  as  he  supplies  his  family's  daily  needs, 
that  his  earnings  are  not  unjustly  extorted  from  him  for  the 
benefit  of  the  favored  beneficiaries  of  unfair  tariff  laws. 

This,  then,  is  the  record  :  When  we  began  the  contest  for 
tariff  reform  it  was  said  by  our  Republican  opponents,  in  the 
face  of  our  avowals  and  acts,  that  we  were  determined  on  free 
trade.  A  long  advance  was  made,  in  their  insincerity  and  im 
pudence,  when  they  accused  us  of  acting  in  the  interests  of 
foreigners,  and  when  they  more  than  hinted  that  we  had  been 
bought  with  British  gold.  Those  who  distrusted  the  effective 
ness  of  these  senseless  appeals  insulted  the  intelligence  of  our 
people  by  claiming  that  an  increase  in  the  cost  of  articles  to 
the  consumer  caused  by  the  tariff  was  not  a  tax  paid  by  him, 
but  that  it  was  paid  by  foreigners  who  sent  their  goods  to  our 
markets.  Sectional  prejudice  was  invoked  in  the  most  out 
rageous  manner,  and  the  people  of  the  North  were  asked  to 
condemn  the  measure  of  tariff  reform  proposed  by  us  because 
members  of  Congress  from  the  South  had  supported  it. 

These  are  fair  samples  of  the  arguments  submitted  to  the 
American  people  in  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1888. 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  purpose  of  these  amazing  deliver 
ances  was  to  defeat  entirely  any  reform  in  the  tariff — though 
it  had  been  enacted  at  a  time  when  the  expense  of  a  tre 
mendous  war  justified  the  exaction  of  tribute  from  the  people 
which  in  time  of  peace  became  a  grievous  burden  ;  though  it 
had  congested  the  Federal  Treasury  with  a  worse  than  useless 
surplus,  inviting  reckless  public  waste  and  extravagance  ;  and 


326  SPEECHES    IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES. 

though,  in  many  of  its  features,  the  only  purpose  of  its  con 
tinuation  was  the  bargaining  it  permitted  for  party  sup 
port. 

There  were  those,  however,  in  the  ranks  of  our  opponents 
who  recognized  the  fact  that  we  had  so  aroused  popular  atten 
tion  to  the  evils  and  injustice  of  such  a  tariff  that  it  might  not 
be  safe  to  rely  for  success  upon  a  bald  opposition  to  its  reform. 
These  were  the  grave  and  sedate  Republican  statesmen  who 
declared  that  they  never,  never ,  could  consent  to  subserve  the 
interests  of  England  at  the  expense  of  their  own  country,  as 
the  wicked  Democrats  proposed  to  do,  and  that  they  felt  con 
strained  to  insist  upon  a  tariff,  protective  to  the  point  of  pro 
hibition,  because  they  devotedly  loved  our  workingmen  and 
were  determined  that  their  employment  should  be  constant 
and  that  their  wages  should  never  sink  to  the  disgusting  level 
of  the  pauper  labor  of  Europe,  but  that,  in  view  of  the  fact 
that  the  war  in  which  the  tariff  then  existing  originated  had 
been  closed  for  more  than  twenty  years,  and  in  view  of  the 
further  fact  that  the  public  Treasury  was  overburdened,  they 
were  willing  to  readjust  the  tariff,  if  it  could  only  be  done  by 
its  friends  instead  of  "  rebel  Brigadiers." 

I  will  not  refer  to  all  the  means  by  which  our  opponents 
succeeded  in  that  contest.  Suffice  it  to  say,  they  gained  com 
plete  possession  of  the  government  in  every  branch,  and  the 
tariff  was  reformed  by  its  alleged  friends.  All  must  admit, 
however,  that  either  this  was  not  done  by  the  people's  friends, 
or  that  the  effort  in  their  behalf  sadly  miscarried  or  was  un 
gratefully  remembered  ;  for  a  few  weeks  thereafter,  a  relega 
tion  to  private  life  among  those  occupying  seats  in  Congress 
who  had  been  active  in  reforming  the  tariff  occurred,  which 
amounted  to  a  political  revolution.  These  victims  claimed 
that  our  voters  failed  to  indorse  their  reform  of  the  tariff  be 
cause  they  did  not  understand  it.  It  is  quite  probable,  how 
ever,  that  if  they  did  not  understand  it  they  felt  it,  and  that, 
because  it  made  them  uncomfortable,  they  emphatically  said 
such  a  reform  was  not  what  they  wanted.  At  any  rate,  the 


SPEECHES    IN  POLITICAL    CANVASSES.  327 

consumer  has  found  life  harder  since  this  reform  than  before, 
and  if  there  is  a  workingman  anywhere  who  has  had  his 
wages  increased  by  virtue  of  its  operation  he  has  not  yet  made 
himself  known.  Plenty  of  mills  and  factories  have  been  closed, 
thousands  of  men  have  thus  lost  employment,  and  we  daily 
hear  of  reduced  wages  ;  but  the  benefits  promised  from  this 
reform,  and  its  advantage  to  the  people,  who  really  need  relief, 
are  not  apparent.  The  provision  it  contains  permitting  reci 
procity  of  trade  in  certain  cases,  depending  on  the  action  of 
the  President,  is  an  admission,  as  far  as  it  goes,  against  the 
theory  upon  which  this  reform  is  predicated,  and  it  lamely 
limps  in  the  direction  of  freer  commercial  exchanges.  If 
"  hypocrisy  is  the  homage  vice  pays  to  virtue,"  reciprocity  may 
be  called  the  homage  prohibitory  protection  pays  to  genuine 
tariff  reform. 

The  demand  in  your  platform  for  free  raw  materials  ought, 
it  seems  to  me,  to  be  warmly  seconded  by  the  citizens  of  your 
State.     The  advantages  to  the  people  of  Rhode  Island  of  such 
a  policy  do  not  seern  to  be  questionable,  and  I  am  not  here  to 
discuss  them  in  detail  ;   but  all  I  have  said,  touching  the  con 
duct  and  record  of  the  Democratic  party  and  its  opponents  in 
regard  to  tariff  legislation,  is  in  support  of  the  proposition  that 
all  who  desire  the  special  relief  referred  to  in  your  platform, 
or  any  other  improvement  in  our  tariff    laws  in  the  general 
interest  of  the  people,  must  look  to  the  Democratic  party  for 
it.     The  manufacturer  who  sees  in  free   raw  materials  a  re 
duced  cost  of  his  products,  resulting  in  an  increased  consump 
tion  and  an  extension  of  his  markets,  and  a  constant  activity 
and  return  for  his  invested  capital,  can  hardly  trust  the  party 
which  first  resisted  any  reform  in  the  tariff,  then  juggled  with 
it,  and  at  last  flatly  refused  him  the  relief  he  still  needs.     The 
workingman  who  has  been  deceived  by  the  promise  of  higher 
wages  and  better  employment,  and   who  now  constantly  fears 
the  closing  of  manufactories  and  the  loss  of  work,  ought  cer 
tainly  to  be  no  longer  cajoled  by  a  party  whose  performance 
has  so  clearly  given  the  lie  to  its  professions.     The  consumer 


328  SPEECHES   IN  POLITICAL   CANVASSES. 

who  has  trusted  to  a  reformation  of  the  tariff  by  its  friends, 
now  that  he  feels  the  increased  burden  of  taxation  in  his  home,' 
ought  to  look  in  another  direction  for  relief. 

If  the  Democratic  party  does  not  give  to  the  State  of  Rhode 
Island,  during  the  present  session  of  Congress,  the  free  raw 
materials  she  needs,  it  will  be  because  a  Republican  Senate  or 
Executive  thwarts  its  design.  At  any  rate,  nothing  shall 
divert  us  from  our  purpose  to  reform  the  tariff  in  this  regard, 
as  well  as  many  others,  be  the  time  of  its  accomplishment 
near  or  remote. 

It  doubtless  would  please  our  adversaries  if  we  could  be 
allured  from  our  watch  and  guard  over  the  cause  of  tariff  re 
form  to  certain  other  objects,  thus  forfeiting  the  people's  trust 
and  confidence.  The  national  Democracy  will  hardly  gratify 
this  wish  and  turn  its  back  upon  the  people's  cause,  to  wander 
after  false  and  unsteady  lights  in  the  wilderness  of  doubt  and 
danger. 

Our  opponents  must,  in  the  coming  national  canvass,  settle 
accounts  with  us  on  the  issue  of  tariff  reform.  It  will  not  do 
for  them  to  say  to  us  that  this  is  an  old  and  determined  con 
tention.  The  Ten  Commandments  are  thousands  of  years  old  ; 
but  they  and  the  doctrine  of  tariff  reform  will  be  taught  and 
preached  until  mankind  and  the  Republican  party  shall  heed 
the  injunction,  "Thou  shalt  not  steal." 

As  I  leave  you,  let  me  say  to  you  that  your  cause  deserves 
success ;  and  let  me  express  the  hope  that  the  close  of  your 
canvass  will  bring  you  no  regrets  on  account  of  activity  relaxed 
or  opportunities  lost.  Demonstrate  to  your  people  the  merits 
of  your  cause,  and  trust  them.  Above  all  things,  banish  every 
personal  feeling  of  discontent,  and  let  every  personal  considera 
tion  be  merged  in  a  determination,  pervading  your  ranks  every 
where,  to  win  a  victory.  With  a  cause  so  just,  and  with  activity, 
vigilance,  harmony,  and  determination  on  the  part  of  Rhode 
Island's  stanch  Democracy,  1  believe  you  will  not  fail. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

ON    SOME    SOCIAL    AND    ECONOMIC    QUESTIONS. 

I. 

THE    PUBLICITY    OF    CORPORATIONS. 

(From  the  First  Message  to  the  New  York  Legislature,  January,  1884.) 

THE  action  of  the  Board  of  Railroad  Commissioners  in  re 
quiring  the  filing  of  quarterly  reports  by  the  railroad  companies, 
exhibiting  their  financial  condition,  is  a  most  important  step 
in  advance,  and  should  be  abundantly  sustained.  It  would, 
in  my  opinion,  be  a  most  valuable  protection  to  the  people  if 
other  large  corporations  were  obliged  to  report  to  some  depart 
ment  their  transactions  and  financial  condition. 

The  State  creates  these  corporations  upon  the  theory  that 
some  proper  thing  of  benefit  can  be  better  done  by  them 
than  by  private  enterprise,  and  that  the  aggregation  of 
the  funds  of  many  individuals  may  be  thus  profitably 
employed.  They  are  launched  upon  the  public  with  the 
seal  of  the  State,  in  some  sense,  upon  them.  They  are 
permitted  to  represent  the  advantages  they  possess  and  the 
wealth  sure  to  follow  from  admission  to  membership.  In  one 
hand  is  held  a  charter  from  the  State,  and  in  the  other  is 
held  their  preferred  stock. 

It  is  a  fact,  singular,  though  well-established,  that  people 
will  pay  their  money  for  stock  in  a  corporation  engaged  in  en 
terprises  in  which  they  would  refuse  to  invest  if  in  private  hands. 

It  is  a  grave  question  whether  the  formation  of  these  artifi 
cial  bodies  ought  not  to  be  checked,  or  better  regulated,  and 
in  some  way  supervised. 

329 


33°       ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS. 

At  any  rate,  they  should  always  be  kept  well  in  hand,  and 
the  funds  of  its  citizens  should  be  protected  by  the  State  which 
has  invited  their  investment.  While  the  stockholders  are 
the  owners  of  the  corporate  property,  notoriously  they  are 
oftentimes  completely  in  the  power  of  the  directors  and  mana 
gers  who  acquire  a  majority  of  the  stock  and  by  this  means 
perpetuate  their  control,  using  the  corporate  property  and 
franchises  for  their  benefit  and  profit,  regardless  of  the  in 
terests  and  rights  of  the  minority  of  stockholders.  Immense 
salaries  are  paid  to  officers  ;  transactions  are  consummated  by 
which  the  directors  make  money,  while  the  rank  and  file  among 
the  stockholders  lose  it  ;  the  honest  investor  waits  for  divi 
dends  and  the  directors  grow  rich.  It  is  suspected,  too,  that 
large  sums  are  spent  under  various  disguises  in  efforts  to 
influence  legislation. 

It  is  not  consistent  to  claim  that  the  citizen  must  protect  him 
self  by  refusing  to  purchase  stock.  The  law  constantly  recog 
nizes  the  fact  that  people  should  be  defended  from  false 
representations  and  from  their  own  folly  and  cupidity.  It 
punishes  obtaining  goods  by  false  pretenses,  gambling,  and 
lotteries. 

It  is  a  hollow  mockery  to  direct  the  owner  of  a  small  amount 
of  stock  in  one  of  these  institutions  to  the  courts.  Under  exist 
ing  statutes,  the  law's  delay,  perplexity  and  uncertainty  lead 
but  to  despair. 

The  State  should  either  refuse  to  allow  these  corporations 
to  exist  under  its  authority  or  patronage,  or  acknowledging 
their  paternity  and  its  responsibility,  should  provide  a  simple, 
easy  way  for  its  people  whose  money  is  invested,  and  the 
public  generally,  to  discover  how  the  funds  of  these  institu 
tions  are  spent,  and  how  their  affairs  are  conducted.  It  should, 
at  the  same  time,  provide  a  way  by  which  the  squandering  or 
misuse  of  corporate  funds  would  be  made  good  to  the  parties 
injured  thereby. 

This  might  well  be  accomplished  by  requiring  corporations 
to  file  reports  frequently,  made  out  with  the  utmost  detail,  and 


ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS.      33 l 

which  would  not  allow  lobby  expenses  to  be  hidden  under  the 
pretext  of  legal  services  and  counsel  fees,  accompanied  by 
vouchers  and  sworn  to  by  the  officers  making  them,  showing 
particularly  the  debts,  liabilities,  expenditures,  and  property 
of  the  corporation.  Let  this  report  be  delivered  to  some 
appropriate  department  or  officer,  who  shall  audit  and  examine 
the  same  ;  provide  that  a  false  oath  to  such  account  shall  be 
perjury  and  make  the  directors  liable  to  refund  to  the  injured 
stockholders  any  expenditure  which  shall  be  determined  im 
proper  by  the  auditing  authority. 

Such  requirements  might  not  be  favorable  to  stock  specula 
tion,  but  they  would  protect  the  innocent  investors  ;  they 
might  make  the  management  of  corporations  more  troublesome, 
but  this  ought  not  to  be  considered  when  the  protection  of 
the  people  is  the  matter  in  hand.  It  would  prevent  corporate 
efforts  to  influence  legislation  ;  the  honestly  conducted  and 
strong  corporations  would  have  nothing  to  fear  ;  the  badly 
managed  and  weak  ought  to  be  exposed. 


II. 

LEGISLATIVE   BILLS   OF   A   PURELY   LOCAL   CHARACTER. 
(From  the  Second  Message  to  the  New  York  Legislature,  January,  1884.) 

Another  evil  which  has  a  most  pernicious  influence  in 
legislation  is  the  introduction  and  consideration  of  bills, 
purely  local  in  their  character,  affecting  only  special  interests, 
which  ought  not  upon  any  pretext  to  be  permitted  to  en 
cumber  the  statutes  of  the  State.  Every  consideration 
of  expediency,  as  well  as  the  language  and  evident  intent 
of  the  Constitution,  dictate  the  exclusion  of  such  matters 
from  legislative  consideration.  The  powers  of  Boards  of 
Supervisors  and  other  local  authorities  have  been  enlarged, 
for  the  express  purpose  of  permitting  them  to  deal  intelligently 


33 2       ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTION'S. 

and  properly  with  such  subjects.  But,  notwithstanding  this, 
bills  are  introduced  authorizing  the  building  and  repairing  of 
bridges  and  highways,  the  erection  of  engine  houses  and 
soldiers'  monuments,  the  establishment  of  libraries,  the  regu 
lation  or  purchase  of  cemeteries,  and  other  things  of  a  like 
nature. 

In  many  cases  no  better  excuse  exists  for  the  presentation 
of  such  bills  than  the  dignity  and  force  which  are  supposed  to 
be  gained  for  their  objects  by  legal  enactment,  the  saving  of 
expense  and  trouble  to  those  interested  in  their  purposes,  and 
the  local  notoriety  and  popularity  sought  by  the  legislators 
having  them  in  charge.  Their  consideration  retards  the 
business  of  the  session  and  occupies  time  which  should  be 
devoted  to  better  purposes.  And  this  is  not  the  worst  result 
that  may  follow  in  their  train.  Such  measures,  there  are 
grounds  to  suspect,  are  frequently  made  the  means  of  secur 
ing,  by  a  promise  of  aid  in  their  passage,  the  votes  of  those 
who  introduce  them,  in  favor  of  other  and  more  vicious  legis 
lation. 


III. 

THE   ARBITRATION   OF   LABOR    DISPUTES. 
I. 

To  THE  SENATE  AND  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

The  Constitution  imposes  upon  the  President  the  duty  of 
recommending  to  the  consideration  of  Congress  from  time  to 
time  such  measures  as  he  shall  judge  necessary  and  expe 
dient. 

I  am  so  deeply  impressed  with  the  importance  of  imme 
diately  and  thoughtfully  meeting  the  problem  which  recent 
events  and  a  present  condition  have  thrust  upon  us,  involving 
the  settlement  by  arbitration  of  disputes  arising  between  our 
laboring  men  and  their  employers,  that  I  am  constrained  to 
recommend  to  Congress  legislation  upon  this  serious  and 
pressing  subject. 


ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS.      333 

Under  our  form  of  government,  the  value  of  labor  as  an 
element  of  national  prosperity  should  be  distinctly  recognized, 
and  the  welfare  of  the  laboring  man  should  be  regarded  as 
especially  entitled  to  legislative  care.  In  a  country  which 
offers  to  all  its  citizens  the  highest  attainment  of  social  and 
political  distinction,  its  workingmen  cannot  justly  or  safely  be 
considered  as  irrevocably  consigned  to  the  limits  of  a  class 
and  entitled  to  no  attention  and  allowed  no  protest  against 
neglect. 

The  laboring  man,  bearing  in  his  hand  an  indispensable  con 
tribution  to  our  growth  and  progress,  may  well  insist,  with 
manly  courage  and  as  a  right,  upon  the  same  recognition  from 
those  who  make  our  laws  as  is  accorded  to  any  other  citizen 
having  a  valuable  interest  in  charge  ;  and  his  reasonable  de 
mands  should  be  met  in  such  a  spirit  of  appreciation  and  fair 
ness  as  to  induce  a  contented  and  patriotic  co-operation  in  the 
achievement  of  a  grand  national  destiny. 

While  the  real  interests  of  labor  are  not  promoted  by  a 
resort  to  threats  and  violent  manifestations,  and  while  those 
who,  under  the  pretext  of  an  advocacy  of  the  claims  of  labor, 
wantonly  attack  the  rights  of  capital,  and  for  selfish  purposes 
or  the  love  of  disorder  sow  seeds  of  violence  and  discontent, 
should  neither  be  encouraged  nor  conciliated,  all  legislation 
on  the  subject  should  be  calmly  and  deliberately  undertaken, 
with  no  purpose  of  satisfying  unreasonable  demands  or  gaining 
partisan  advantage. 

The  present  condition  of  the  relations  between  labor  and 
capital  is  far  from  satisfactory.  The  discontent  of  the  em 
ployed  is  due,  in  a  large  degree,  to  the  grasping  and  heed 
less  exactions  of  employers,  and  the  alleged  discrimination  in 
favor  of  capital  as  an  object  of  governmental  attention.  It 
must  also  be  conceded  that  the  laboring  men  are  not  always 
careful  to  avoid  causeless  and  unjustifiable  disturbance. 

Though  the  importance  of  a  better  accord  between  these 
interests  is  apparent,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  any  effort 
in  that  direction,  by  the  Federal  government,  must  be  greatly 


334       ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS. 

limited  by  constitutional  restrictions.  There  are  many  griev 
ances  which  legislation  by  Congress  cannot  redress,  and  many 
conditions  which  cannot  by  such  means  be  reformed. 

J  am  satisfied,  however,  that  something  may  be  done  under 
Federal  authority  to  prevent  the  disturbances  which  so  often 
arise  from  disputes  between  employers  and  the  employed,  and 
which  at  times  seriously  threaten  the  business  interests  of  the 
country  ;  and  in  my  opinion  the  proper  theory  upon  which  to 
proceed  is  that  of  voluntary  arbitration  as  the  means  of  set 
tling  these  difficulties. 

But  I  suggest  that  instead  of  arbitrators  chosen  in  the  heat 
of  conflicting  claims,  and  after  each  dispute  shall  arise,  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  the  same,  there  be  created  a  Commis 
sion  of  Labor,  consisting  of  three  members,  who  shall  be  reg 
ular  officers  of  the  government,  charged  among  other  duties 
with  the  consideration  and  settlement,  when  possible,  of  all 
controversies  between  labor  and  capital. 

A  commission  thus  organized  would  have  the  advantage  of 
being  a  stable  body,  and  its  members,  as  they  gained  expe 
rience,  would  constantly  improve  in  their  ability  to  deal  intel 
ligently  and  usefully  with  the  questions  which  might  be  sub- 
milled  to  them.  If  arbitrators  are  chosen  for  temporary 
service  as  each  case  of  dispute  arises,  experience  and  famil 
iarity  with  much  that  is  involved  in  the  question  will  be  lack 
ing,  extreme  partisanship  and  bias  will  be  the  qualifications 
sought  on  either  side,  and  frequent  complaints  of  unfairness 
and  partiality  will  be  inevitable.  The  imposition  upon  a 
Federal  court  of  a  duty  so  foreign  to  the  judicial  function  as 
the  selection  of  an  arbitrator  in  such  cases,  is  at  least  of 
doubtful  propriety. 

The  establishment  by  Federal  authority  of  such  a  bureau 
would  be  a  just  and  sensible  recognition  of  the  value  of  labor, 
and  of  its  right  to  be  represented  in  the  departments  of  the 
government.  So  far  as  its  conciliatory  offices  shall  have  rela 
tion  to  disturbance  which  interfered  with  transit  and  com 
merce  between  the  States,  its  existence  would  be  justified, 


OIV  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS.      335 

under  the  provision  of  the  Constitution  which  gives  to  Con 
gress  the  power  "  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations 
and  among  the  several  States."  And  in  the  frequent  disputes 
between  the  laboring  men  and  their  employers  of  less  extent, 
and  the  consequences  of  which  are  confined  within  State  limits 
and  threaten  domestic  violence,  the  interposition  of  such  a 
commission  might  be  tendered  upon  the  application  of  the 
legislature  or  executive  of  a  State,  under  the  constitutional 
provision  which  requires  the  general  government  to  "  pro 
tect "  each  of  the  States  "against  domestic  violence." 

If  such  a  commission  were  fairly  organized,  the  risk  of  a 
loss  of  popular  support  and  sympathy,  resulting  from  a  refusal 
to  submit  to  so  peaceful  an  instrumentality,  would  constrain 
both  parties  to  such  disputes  to  invoke  its  interference  and 
abide  by  its  decisions.  There  would  also  be  good  reason  to 
hope  that  the  very  existence  of  such  an  agency  would  invite 
application  to  it  for  advice  and  counsel,  frequently  resulting 
in  the  avoidance  of  contention  and  misunderstanding. 

If  the  usefulness  of  such  a  commission  is  doubted  because 
it  might  lack  power  to  enforce  its  decisions,  much  encourage 
ment  is  derived  from  the  conceded  good  that  has  been  accom 
plished  by  the  railroad  commissions  which  have  been  organized 
in  many  of  the  States,  which,  having  little  more  than  advisory 
power,  have  exerted  a  most  salutary  influence  in  the  settlement 
of  disputes  between  conflicting  interests. 

In  July,  1884,  by  a  law  of  Congress,  a  Bureau  of  Labor  was 
established  and  placed  in  charge  of  a  Commissioner  of  Labor, 
who  is  required  to  "  collect  information  upon  the  subject  of 
labor,  its  relations  to  capital,  the  hours  of  labor  and  the  earn 
ings  of  laboring  men  and  women,  and  the  means  of  promoting 
their  material,  social,  intellectual,  and  moral  prosperity." 

The  commission  which  I  suggest  could  easily  be  engrafted 
upon  the  bureau  thus  already  organized,  by  the  addition  of 
two  more  commissioners  and  by  supplementing  the  duties  now 
imposed  upon  it  by  such  other  powers  and  functions  as  would 
permit  the  commissioners  to  act  as  arbitrators,  when  necessary, 


336       ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS. 

between  labor  and  capital,  under  such  limitations  and  upon 
such  occasions  as  should  be  deemed  proper  and  useful. 

Power  should  also  be  distinctly  conferred  upon  this  bureau 
to  investigate  the  causes  of  all  disputes  as  they  occur,  whether 
submitted  for  arbitration  or  not,  so  that  information  may 
always  be  at  hand  to  aid  legislation  on  the  subject  when 
necessary  and  desirable. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 

April  22,  1886. 


2, 


(From  the  Second  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December,  1886.) 

The  relations  of  labor  to  capital  and  of  laboring  men  to  their 
employers  are  of  the  utmost  concern  to  every  patriotic  citizen. 
When  these  are  strained  and  distorted,  unjustifiable  claims  are 
apt  to  be  insisted  upon  by  both  interests,  and  in  the  contro 
versy  which  results  the  welfare  of  all  and  the  prosperity  of 
the  country  are  jeopardized.  Any  intervention  of  the  general 
government,  within  the  limits  of  its  constitutional  authority,  to 
avert  such  a  condition  should  be  willingly  accorded. 

In  a  special  message  transmitted  to  the  Congress  at  its  last 
session  I  suggested  the  enlargement  of  our  present  Labor 
Bureau  and  adding  to  its  present  functions  the  power  of  arbi 
tration  in  cases  where  differences  arise  between  employer  and 
employed.  When  these  differences  reach  such  a  stage  as  to 
result  in  the  interruption  of  commerce  between  the  States,  the 
application  of  this  remedy  by  the  general  government  might 
be  regarded  as  entirely  within  its  constitutional  powers.  And 
I  think  we  might  reasonably  hope  that  such  arbitrators,  if 
carefully  selected,  and  if  entitled  to  the  confidence  of  the 
parties  to  be  affected,  would  be  voluntarily  called  to  the  settle 
ment  of  controversies  of  less  extent  and  not  necessarily  within 
the  domain  of  Federal  regulation. 


ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS.      337 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  this  suggestion  is  worthy  the 
attention  of  the  Congress. 

But,  after  all  has  been  done  by  the  passage  of  laws,  either 
Federal  or  State,  to  relieve  a  situation  full  of  solicitude,  much 
more  remains  to  be  accomplished  by  the  reinstatement  and 
cultivation  of  a  true  American  sentiment  which  recognizes  the 
equality  of  American  citizenship.  This,  in  the  light  of  our 
traditions  and  in  loyalty  to  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  would 
teach  that  a  hearty  co-operation  on  the  part  of  all  interests  is 
the  surest  path  to  national  greatness  and  the  happiness  of  all 
our  people,  that  capital  should,  in  recognition  of  the  brother 
hood  of  our  citizenship  and  in  a  spirit  of  American  fairness, 
generously  accord  to  labor  its  just  compensation  and  consid 
eration,  and  that  contented  labor  is  capital's  best  protection 
and  faithful  ally.  It  would  teach,  too,  that  the  diverse  situa 
tions  of  our  people  are  inseparable  from  our  civilization,  that 
every  citizen  should,  in  his  sphere,  be  a  contributor  to  the 
general  good,  that  capital  does  not  necessarily  tend  to  the 
oppression  of  labor,  and  that  violent  disturbances  and  disor 
ders  alienate  from  their  promoters  true  American  sympathy 
and  kindly  feeling. 


IV. 

PLACE-HOLDING  AS  A  BUSINESS. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
ALBANV,  February  4,  1885. 
MY  DEAR  YOUNG  FRIEND  : 

I  cannot  attempt  to  answer  all  the  letters  addressed  to  me  by 
those,  both  old  and  young,  who  ask  for  places.  But,  if  you  are 
the  boy  I  think  you  are,  your  letter  is  based  upon  a  claim  to 
help  your  mother  and  others  who  are  partly  dependent  upon 
your  exertions.  I  judge  from  what  you  write  that  you  now 
have  a  situation  in  a  reputable  business  house.  I  cannot  urge 
you  too  strongly  to  give  up  all  idea  of  employment  in  a  public 


ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS. 

office,  and  to  determine  to  win   advancement   and   promotion 
where  you  are. 

There  are  no  persons  so  forlorn  and  so  much  to  be  pitied  as 
those  who  have  learned,  in  early  life,  to  look  to  public  posi 
tions  for  a  livelihood.  It  unfits  a  man  or  boy  for  any  other 
business,  and  is  apt  to  make  a  kind  of  respectable  vagrant  of 
him.  If  you  do  well  in  other  occupations,  and  thus  become 
valuable  to  the  people,  they  will  find  you  out  when  they  want 
a  good  man  for  public  service. 

You  may  be  sure  that  I  am,  as  you  say,  the  friend  of  every 
boy  willing  to  help  himself ;  but  my  experience  teaches  me  that 
I  cannot  do  you  a  better  service  than  to  advise  you  not  to  join 
the  great  army  of  office-seekers. 

I  never  sought  an  office  of  any  kind  in  my  life  ;  and,  if  you 
live  and  follow  my  advice,  I  am  certain  that  you  will  thank 
me  for  it  some  day. 

Yours  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


V. 

THE   HOMES   OF   POLYGAMY. 

(First  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  8,  1885.) 

In  the  Territory  of  Utah  the  law  of  the  United  States 
passed  for  the  suppression  of  polygamy  has  been  energetically 
and  faithfully  executed  during  the  past  year,  with  measurably 
good  results.  A  number  of  convictions  have  been  secured  for 
unlawful  cohabitation,  and  in  some  cases  pleas  of  guilty  have 
been  entered  and  a  slight  punishment  imposed,  upon  a  promise 
by  the  accused  that  they  would  not  again  offend  against  the 
law,  nor  advise,  counsel,  aid,  or  abet,  in  any  way,  its  violation 
by  others. 

The  Utah  commissioners  express  the  opinion,  based  upon 
such  information  as  they  are  able  to  obtain,  that  but  few  polyg 
amous  marriages  have  taken  place  in  the  Territory  during  the 


ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS.      339 

last  year.  They  further  report  that  while  there  cannot  be 
found  upon  the  registration  lists  of  voters  the  name  of  a  man 
actually  guilty  of  polygamy,  and  while  none  of  that  class  is 
holding  office,  yet  at  the  last  election  in  the  Territory,  all  the 
officers  elected,  except  in  one  county,  were  men  who,  though 
not  actually  living  in  the  practice  of  polygamy,  subscribe  to 
the  doctrine  of  polygamous  marriages  as  a  divine  revelation  and 
a  law  unto  all,  higher  and  more  binding  upon  the  conscience 
than  any  human  law,  local  or  national.  Thus  is  the  strange 
spectacle  presented  of  a  community  protected  by  a  republican 
form  of  government,  to  which  they  all  owe  allegiance,  sustain 
ing  by  their  suffrages  a  principle  and  a  belief  which  set  at 
naught  that  obligation  of  absolute  obedience  to  the  law  of  the 
land  which  lies  at  the  foundation  of  republican  institutions. 

The  strength,  the  perpetuity,  and  the  destiny  of  the  nation 
rest  upon  our  homes,  established  by  the  law  of  God,  guarded 
by  parental  care,  regulated  by  parental  authority,  and  sancti 
fied  by  parental  love.  These  are  not  the  homes  of  polygamy. 

The  mothers  of  our  land,  who  rule  the  nation  as  they  mold 
the  characters  and  guide  the  actions  of  their  sons,  live  accord 
ing  to  God's  holy  ordinances,  and  each,  secure  and  happy  in 
the  exclusive  love  of  the  father  of  her  children,  sheds  the  warm 
light  of  true  womanhood,  unperverted  and  unpolluted,  upon 
all  within  her  pure  and  wholesome  family  circle.  These  are  not 
the  cheerless,  crushed,  and  unwomanly  mothers  of  polygamy. 

The  fathers  of  our  families  are  the  best  citizens  of  the 
republic.  Wife  and  children  are  the  sources  of  patriotism, 
and  conjugal  and  parental  affection  beget  devotion  to  the 
country.  1  he  man  who,  undefiled  with  plural  marriage,  is 
surrounded  in  his  single  home  with  his  wife  and  children,  has 
a  stake  in  the  country  which  inspires  him  with  respect  for  its 
laws  and  courage  for  its  defense.  These  are  not  the  fathers 
of  polygamous  families. 

There  is  no  feature  of  this  practice,  or  the  system  which 
sanctions  it,  which  is  not  opposed  to  all  that  is  of  value  in  our 
institutions. 


340       ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS. 

There  should  be  no  relaxation  in  the  firm  but  just  execution 
of  the  law  now  in  operation,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  approve 
such  further  discreet  legislation  as  will  rid  the  country  of  this 
blot  upon  its  fair  fame. 

Since  the  people  upholding  polygamy  in  our  Territories  are 
re-enforced  by  immigration  from  other  lands,  I  recommend 
that  a  law  be  passed  to  prevent  the  importation  of  Mormons 
into  the  country. 


VI. 

RECIPROCITY   TREATIES    AND   THE    REVENUE. 

(From  the  First  Annual  Message,  December,  1885.) 
On  taking  office,  I  withdrew  for  re-examination  the  treaties 
signed  with  Spain  and  Santo  Domingo,  then  pending  before  the 
Senate.  The  result  has  been  to  satisfy  me  of  the  inexpediency 
of  entering  into  engagements  of  this  character  not  covering  the 
entire  traffic. 

These  treaties  contemplated  the  surrender  by  the  United 
States  of  large  revenues  for  inadequate  considerations.  Upon 
sugar  alone  duties  were  surrendered  to  an  amount  far  exceed 
ing  all  the  advantages  offered  in  exchange.  Even  were  it  in 
tended  to  relieve  our  consumers,  it  was  evident  that,  so  long 
as  the  exemption  but  partially  covered  our  importation,  such 
relief  would  be  illusory.  To  relinquish  a  revenue  so  essential 
seemed  highly  improvident  at  a  time  when  new  and  large 
drains  upon  the  Treasury  were  contemplated.  Moreover,  em 
barrassing  questions  would  have  arisen  under  the  favored-nation 
clauses  of  treaties  with  other  nations. 

As  a  further  objection,  it  is  evident  that  tariff  regulation  by 
treaty  diminishes  that  independent  control  over  its  own  rev 
enues  which  is  essential  for  the  safety  and  welfare  of  any  gov 
ernment.  Emergency  calling  for  an  increase  of  taxation  may 
at  any  time  arise,  and  no  engagement  with  a  foreign  power 
should  exist  to  hamper  the  action  of  the  government. 


ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS.      341 
VII. 

INTERNATIONAL    COPYRIGHT   AND   THE   DUTY   ON    ART   WORKS. 

I. 

(From  the  First  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December,  1885.) 
An  international  copyright  conference  was  held  at  Berne  in 
September,  on  the  invitation  of  the  Swiss  Government.  The 
envoy  of  the  United  States  attended  as  a  delegate,  but  re 
frained  from  committing  this  government  to  the  results,  even 
by  signing  the  recommendatory  protocol  adopted.  The  inter 
esting  and  important  subject  of  international  copyright  has 
been  before  you  for  several  years.  Action  is  certainly  desir 
able  to  effect  the  object  in  view.  And  while  there  may  be 
question  as  to  the  relative  advantage  of  treating  it  by  legislation 
or  by  specific  treaty,  the  matured  views  of  the  Berne  confer 
ence  cannot  fail  to  aid  your  consideration  of  the  subject. 

Past  Congresses  have  had  under  consideration  the  advis 
ability  of  abolishing  the  discrimination  made  by  the  tariff  laws 
in  favor  of  the  works  of  American  artists.  The  odium  of  the 
policy  which  subjects  to  a  high  rate  of  duty  the  paintings  of 
foreign  artists,  and  exempts  the  productions  of  American  ar 
tists  residing  abroad,  and  who  receive  gratuitously  advantages 
and  instruction,  is  visited  upon  our  citizens  engaged  in  art  cul 
ture  in  Europe,  and  has  caused  them,  with  practical  unanimity, 
to  favor  the  abolition  of  such  an  ungracious  distinction  ;  and  in 
their  interest,  and  for  other  obvious  reasons,  I  strongly  recom 
mend  it. 


2. 

(From  the  Second  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December,  1886.) 

The  drift  of  sentiment  in  civilized  communities  toward  full 
recognition  of  the  rights  of  property  in  the  creations  of  the 
human  intellect  has  brought  about  the  adoption,  by  many  im 
portant  nations,  of  an  international  Copyright  Convention, 
which  was  signed  at  Berne  on  the  i8th  of  September,  1885. 


342       ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS. 

Inasmuch  as  the  Constitution  gives  to  Congress  the  power 
"  to  promote  the  progress  of  science  and  useful  arts  by  secur 
ing  for  limited  times  to  authors  and  inventors  the  exclusive 
right  to  their  respective  writings  and  discoveries,"  this  govern 
ment  did  not  feel  warranted  in  becoming  a  signatory,  pending 
the  action  of  Congress  upon  measures  of  international  copy 
right  now  before  it ;  but  the  right  of  adhesion  to  the  Berne 
Convention  hereafter  has  been  reserved.  I  trust  the  subject 
will  receive  at  your  hands  the  attention  it  deserves,  and  that 
the  just  claims  of  authors,  so  urgently  pressed,  will  be  duly 
heeded. 

Representations  continue  to  be  made  to  me  of  the  injurious 
effect  upon  American  artists  studying  abroad  and  having  free 
access  to  the  art  collections  of  foreign  countries,  of  maintain 
ing  a  discriminating  duty  against  the  introduction  of  the  works 
of  their  brother*  artists  of  other  countries  ;  and  I  am  induced 
to  repeat  my  recommendation  for  the  abolition  of  that  tax. 


3- 

(To  the  American  Copyright  League.) 

NEW  YORK,  December  6,  1889. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  JOHNSON  : 

I  hope  that  I  need  not  assure  you  how  much  I  regret  my 
inability  to  be  with  you  and  other  friends  and  advocates  of 
international  copyright  in  this  hour.  It  seems  to  me  very 
strange  that  a  movement  having  so  much  to  recommend  it  to 
the  favor  of  just  and  honest  men  should  languish  in  the  hands 
of  our  lawmakers. 

It  is  not  pleasant  to  have  forced  upon  one  the  reflection 
that  perhaps  the  fact  that  it  is  simply  just  and  fair  is  to  its 
present  disadvantage.  And  yet  I  believe,  and  I  know  you  and 
the  others  engaged  in  the  cause  believe,  that  ultimately  and 
with  continued  effort  the  friends  of  this  reform  will  see  their 
hopes  realized.  Then  it  will  be  great  satisfaction  to  know 


ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS.      343 

and  feel  that  success  was  achieved  by  force  of  fairness,-justice, 
and  morality.  Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

MR.  R.  U.  JOHNSON,  Secretary. 

VIII. 

MORAL   ISSUES   IN   POLITICS. 

(Interview  in  the  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser,  September  19,  1889.) 
I  am  very  much  pleased,  as  every  other  true  Democrat 
should  be,  both  with  the  utterances  of  their  conventions  in 
Ohio  and  New  Jersey,  on  national  questions,  and  with  the 
nominees.  The  platforms  and  the  candidates  stand  for  sturdy 
Democracy  and  for  honest,  wholesome  tariff  reform  ;  and  they 
indicate  that  the  Democratic  party  is  in  no  mood  for  time 
serving,  hand-to-mouth  evasion. 

The  Democracy,  believing  in  certain  principles  and  satisfied 
that  the  triumph  of  these  principles  involves  the  prosperity  and 
well-being  of  the  people,  boldly  announce  them  in  full  reliance 
on  the  sober  thought  and  the  intelligence  of  our  countrymen. 
Here  is  found  the  very  essence  of  Democratic  faith.  This 
undaunted  courage,  not  born  of  expediency,  and  this  devotion 
to  the  people's  cause,  manifested  not  only  in  the  action  of 
party  organizations  in  certain  States,  but  in  Democratic  utter 
ances  all  over  the  land,  are  sufficient  to  make  us  all  proud  of 
our  party. 

Nor  do  we  fight  a  losing  battle,  with  only  the  consciousness 
of  being  right  as  our  consolation  in  defeat.  It  seems  to  me 
that  there  never  has  been  such  an  advance  in  any  political 
question  as  there  has  lately  been  in  favor  of  tariff  reform.  A 
fair  examination  of  the  subject  by  the  people  is  bearing  fruit 
and  gives  assurance  that  its  triumph  is  at  hand.  So,  if  among 
those  counted  as  Democrats,  there  are  found  timid  souls,  not 
well-grounded  in  the  faith,  who  long  for  the  fleshpots  of 
vacillating  shifts  and  evasions,  the  answer  to  their  fears  should 
be  :  "  Party  honesty  is  party  expediency." 


344       ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS. 

IX. 

BALLOT    REFORM— HOW    THE    SUFFRAGE    IS    DEBAUCHED. 

(Interview  in  the  Nashville  American,  February  I,  1890.) 
Honest  government  would  profit   by  ballot   reform,  and  so 
would  every  worthy  cause  which  depends  upon  honest  and  not 
upon  corrupt  methods  for  success. 

The  franchise  is  not  debauched  in  the  interest  of  good  laws 
and  honest  government.  It  is  by  those  who  have  special 
interests  to  subserve  at  the  people's  expense,  and  not  by  those 
whose  interests  are  in  common  with  the  masses,  that  the  ballot 
is  corrupted.  There  are  no  rich  and  powerful  corporations 
interested  in  buying  «  floaters  "  or  coercing  employees  to  vote 
for  a  reformation  of  our  tariff  laws. 

The  powers  of  corruption  are  employed  upon  the  other  side, 
and  tariff  reform,  as  all  other  reforms,  must  depend  upon  the 
unbought  suffrage  of  the  people.  If  the  people  are  capable 
of  self-government,  and  are  to  remajn  so,  there  cannot  be  too 
many  safeguards  about  the  expression  of  their  will. 


X. 

THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  COLORED  PEOPLE. 

816  MADISON  AVENUE, 
NEW  YORK,  January  14,  1891. 
ISAIAH  T.  MONTGOMERY,  ESQ. 

Mr.  Henry  F.  Downing  has  put  in  my  hands  your  letter  to 
him  in  relation  to  the  school  for  the  instruction  of  colored 
children  at  your  home.  The  condition  you  describe  has  ar 
rested  my  attention,  and  the  projects  you  have  in  hand  for 
the  improvement  of  your  people  interest  me  so  much  that  I 
feel  like  aiding  you,  though  it  be  but  to  a  slight  extent. 

I  have  an  idea  that  opportunities  for  education  and  practical 
information  among  the  colored  population  are  most  necessary 
to  the  proper  solution  of  the  race  question  in  the  South.  At 


OAT  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS.      345 

any  rate,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  of  the  utmost  importance.  If 
our  colored  boys  are  to  exercise  in  their  mature  years  the  right 
of  citizenship,  they  should  be  fitted  to  perform  their  duties 
intelligently  and  thoroughly.  I  hope  that,  in  the  school  you 
seek  to  establish,  the  course  of  teaching  will  be  directed  to 
this  end. 

Inclosed  please  find  my  check  for  $25,  which  I  contribute 
with  hearty  wishes  for  the  success  of  your  patriotic  and  praise 
worthy  undertaking. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


XI. 

THE  CHARACTER   OF   REPORTERS. 
(Interview  in  Daily  Continent,  New  York,  April  12,  1891.) 

I  believe  a  large  majority  of  reporters  are  decent  and 
honorable  men,  who  would  prefer  to  do  clean  and  respectable 
work.  Of  course  there  are  some  among  them  who  are  men 
tally  and  morally  cracked,  and  who  never  ought  to  be  trusted 
to  report;  for  the  public  anything  they  claim  to  have  seen  or 
heard.  Eliminate  these,  and  I  do  not  think  any  of  the  re 
mainder  would  deliberately  indulge  in  downright  barefaced 
falsehood  ;  but  there  is  something  connected  with  their  work 
that  they  appear  to  think  is  necessary  to  its  complete  finish, 
which,  for  want  of  a  better  word,  may  be  called  embellishing. 
This  proceeds  so  far,  sometimes,  that,  almost  unknown  to  him 
self,  the  reporter  falls  into  mischievous  and  exasperating  false 
hood — sometimes  lacking  the  intent  to  annoy  and  injure  and 
sometimes  not.  There  ought  to  be  much  less  of  this.  The 
reporter  who  sends  in  these  extravagant  embellishments  can 
never  know  when  they  may  constitute  the  most  outrageous  in 
jury  to  the  feelings  of  the  innocent  and  defenseless. 

But,  as  a  general  rule,  the  responsibility  for  all  that  is  objec- 


34          ON  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS. 

tionable  in  the  reportorial  occupation  should  be  laid  at  the 
doors  of  the  managers  and  owners  of  newspapers.  If  they 
wanted  fair  and  truthful  reports,  they  would  be  furnished 
them  with  more  alacrity  than  they  are  now  supplied  with  the 
trash  so  often  demanded  as  a  test  of  the  reporter's  skill  and 
ability. 

Good, clean  journalism  and  a  proper  sense  of  newspaper  re 
sponsibility,  prevailing  at  headquarters,  would  soon  weed  out 
the  bad  among  reporters,  and  would  so  raise  the  standard  of 
the  duties  of  those  remaining  that  they  would  not  only  be 
gladly  welcomed  by  all  who  have  information  interesting  to 
the  public  to  impart,  but  would  be  received,  without  the  sus 
picion  of  intrusion,  at  any  place  where  legitimate  news  could 
be  collected. 


XII. 

TRIBUTE   TO    DR.    OLIVER    WENDELL   HOLMES. 

• 

UPPER  SARANAC  LAKE, 

August  23,  1884. 
To  THE  EDITORS  OF  "THE  CRITIC": 

Your  note  suggesting  a  contribution  to  the  Holmes  number 
of  The  Critic  has  just  been  forwarded  to  me.  Though  I  am 
not  able  to  send  you  a  word  in  time  for  its  insertion  in  the 
forthcoming  number,  and  though  I  should  almost  fear  to  place 
anything  I  might  write  in  a  collection  which  I  know  will  be  so 
rich  in  precious  tributes,  yet  I  cannot  refrain  from  the  expres 
sion  of  my  hearty  appreciation  and  admiration  of  your  under 
taking. 

Not  only  the  works  of  such  a  man  as  Dr.  Holmes,  but  his 
life  and  years,  belong  to  the  country  which  they  enrich  and 
make  more  illustrious.  God  is  good  in  that  he  has  spared 
him  thus  long  to  his  fellow-Americans  ;  but  in  a  totally  un 
thinking  and  instinctive  way,  and  as  if  our  friend  himself 
willed  his  stay  with  us,  we  find  ourselves  cherishing  a  sense  of 


OJV  SOME  SOCIAL  AND  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS.      347 

gratitude  to  him  for  continuing  to  shed  so  kindly  and  benign 
an  influence  upon  our  Nation's  life. 

The  seventy-fifth  birthday  anniversary,  which  the  Holmes 
number  of  The  Critic  commemorates,  should  be  the  occasion 
of  hearty  congratulation,  not  only  to  the  man  who  has  been 
spared  so  long,  but  to  every  American  citizen. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


I. 

MR.  PRESIDENT  AND  GENTLEMEN  : 

IT  is  sometimes  said  of  us  that  we  have  too  few  holidays, 
and  this  perhaps  is  true.  We  do  not  boast  the  antiquity  nor 
the  long  history  which  accumulates  numerous  days  of  national 
civic  observance;  and  the  rush  and  activity  of  our  people's  life 
are  not  favorable  to  that  conservative  and  deliberate  sentiment 
which  creates  and  establishes  holidays.  So  far  as  such  days 
might  commemorate  the  existence  or  achievements  of  some 
conspicuous  personage,  their  infrequency  may  be  largely 
attributed  to  our  democratic  spirit  and  the  presumption  arising 
from  our  institutions.  In  this  land  of  ours — owned,  pos 
sessed,  and  governed  by  the  people — we,  in  theory  at  least, 
demand  and  expect  that  every  man  will,  in  his  sphere,  be  a 
patriot,  and  that  every  faculty  of  greatness  and  usefulness  with 
which  he  is  endowed  will  be  devoted  to  his  country  and  his 
fellow-men.  We  have  had  no  dearth  of  distinguished  men,  and 
no  better  heroism  has  anywhere  been  seen  than  here.  But 
they  belong  so  naturally  to  us,  that  we  usually  deem  them 
sufficiently  noticed  and  commemorated  when  they  are  acknowl 
edged  as  contributions  to  the  common  fund  of  our  national 
pride  and  glory. 

Thus  it  happens  that  in  this  country  but  two  birthdays  are 
publicly  celebrated.  We  reverently  speak  of  one  as  the  day 
when  the  Redeemer  of  Mankind  appeared  among  men.  On 

*  An  address,  before  the  Southern  Society  of  New  York,  on  Washington's 
birthday,  February  22,  1890,  in  response  to  the  toast  "  The  Birthday  of 
George  Washington." 

348 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE    WASHINGTON.        349 

the  other  the  man  was  born  whose  mission  it  was  to  redeem  the 
American  people  from  bondage  and  dependence  and  to  display 
to  the  world  the  possibility  of  popular  self-government. 

It  would  be  strange,  indeed,  if  this  day  should  ever  be  neg 
lected  by  our  fellow-countrymen.  It  would  be  like  a  nation's 
blotting  out  the  history  which  cements  its  governmental  edifice, 
or  expunging  its  traditions  from  which  flow  that  patriotic  love 
and  devotion  of  its  people  which  are  the  best  guarantees  of 
peaceful  rule  and  popular  contentment. 

We  certainly  need  at  least  one  day  which  shall  recall  to  our 
minds  the  truth  that  the  price  of  our  country  was  unselfish 
labor  and  sacrifice,  that  men  fought  and  suffered  that  we  might 
be  free,  and  that  love  and  American  brotherhood  are  necessary 
elements  to  the  full  and  continued  enjoyment  of  American 
freedom,  prosperity,  and  happiness. 

We  are  apt  to  forget  these  things  in  our  engrossment  with 
the  activities  which  attend  the  development  of  our  country  and 
in  the  impetuous  race  after  wealth  which  has  become  a  charac 
teristic  of  our  people.  There  is  danger  that  we  may  grow 
heedless  of  the  fact  that  our  institutions  are  a  precious  legacy 
which,  for  their  own  sake,  should  be  jealously  watched  and 
guarded,  and  there  is  danger  that  this  condition  may  induce 
selfishness  and  sordidness,  followed  by  the  idea  that  patriotism 
and  morality  have  no  place  in  statecraft,  and  that  a  political 
career  may  be  entered  upon  like  any  other  trade  for  private 
profit  and  advantage 

This  is  a  frightful  departure  from  the  doctrines  upon  which 
our  institutions  rest,  and  surely  it  is  the  extreme  of  folly  to 
hope  that  our  scheme  of  government  will  effect  its  purpose 
and  intent  when  every  condition  of  its  birth  and  life  is 
neglected. 

Point  to  your  immense  fortunes,  if  you  will;  point  to  your 
national  growth  and  prosperity;  boast  of  the  day  of  practical 
politics,  and  discard  as  obsolete  all  sentiment  and  all  concep 
tion  of  morality  and  patriotism  in  public  life,  but  do  not  for  a 
moment  delude  yourselves  into  the  belief  that  you  are  navi- 


35°         THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

gating  in  the  safe  course  marked  out  by   those  who  launched 
and  blessed   the   Ship  of  State. 

Is  Washington  accused  even  in  these  days  of  being  a  senti 
mentalist  ?  Listen  to  the  admonition  he  addressed  "as  an  old 
and  affectionate  friend"  to  his  fellow-countrymen,  whom  he 
loved  so  well  and  for  whom  he  had  labored  so  long,  as  he 
retired  from  their  service: 

Of  all  the  dispositions  and  habits  which  lead  to  political  prosperity, 
religion  and  morality  are  indispensable  supports.  In  vain  would  that  man 
claim  the  tribute  of  patriotism  who  should  labor  to  subvert  these  great  pillars 
of  human  happiness,  these  firmest  props  of  the  duties  of  men  and  citizens. 
The  mere  politician,  equally  with  the  pious  man,  ought  to  respect  and  cherish 
them. 

And  all  is  summed  up  and  applied  directly  to  our  situation 
when  he  adds: 

It  is  substantially  true  that  virtue  or  morality  is  a  necessary  spring  of 
popular  government. 

When  did  we  outgrow  these  sentiments?  When  did  we 
advance  so  far  in  knowledge  above  our  fathers  as  safely  to  cast 
aside  these  beliefs?  Let  us  be  sober  and  thoughtful,  and  if  we 
find  that  these  things  have  lost  their  hold  on  our  minds  and 
hearts,  let  us  take  soundings,  for  the  rocks  are  near. 

We  need  in  our  public  and  private  life  such  pure  and 
chastened  sentiments  as  result  from  the  sincere  and  heartfelt 
observance  of  days  like  this,  and  we  need  such  quickening  of 
our  patriotism  as  the  sedate  contemplation  of  the  life  and  char 
acter  of  Washington  creates. 

Most  of  all,  because  it  includes  all,  we  need  a  better  appre 
ciation  of  true  American  citizenship.  I  do  not  mean  by  this, 
that  thoughtless  pride  of  country  which  is  everywhere  assumed 
sometimes  without  sincerity,  nor  the  sordid  attachment  born 
of  benefits  received  or  favors  expected,  but  that  deep  and  sen 
timental  love  for  our  citizenship  which  flows  from  the  con 
sciousness  that  the  blessing  of  Heaven  was  invoked  at  its  birth; 
that  it  was  nurtured  in  the  faith  of  God;  and  that  it  grew 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE    WASHINGTON.        35 1 

strong  in  the  self-denying  patriotism  of  our  fathers  and  in  their 
love  of  mankind. 

Such  an  apprehension  of  American  citizenship  will  conse 
crate  us  all  to  the  disinterested  service  of  our  country  and 
incite  us  to  drive  from  the  temple  of  our  liberties  the  money 
changers  and  they  who  buy  and  sell. 

Washington  was  the  most  thorough  American  that  ever  lived. 
His  sword  was  drawn  to  carve  out  American  citizenship,  and 
his  every  act  and  public  service  was  directed  to  its  establish 
ment.  He  contemptuously  spurned  the  offer  of  kingly  power, 
and  never  faltered  in  his  hope  to  make  most  honorable  the 
man  who  could  justly  call  himself  an  American. 

In  the  most  solemn  manner  he  warned  his  countrymen 
against  any  attack  upon  the  unity  of  the  government,  and 
called  upon  them  to  frown  indignantly  upon  any  attempt  to 
alienate  any  portion  of  the  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble 
the  sacred  ties  that  linked  together  the  various  parts. 

His  admonition  reached  the  climax  of  its  power  and  force 
when  he  said: 

Citizens  by  birth  or  choice  of  a  common  country,  that  country  has  a  right 
to  concentrate  your  affections.  The  name  of  "  American,"  which  belongs 
to  you  in  your  national  capacity,  must  always  exalt  the  just  pride  of  patriot 
ism  more  than  any  appellation  derived  from  any  local  discriminations. 

In  an  evil  hour,  and  amid  rage  and  resentment,  the  warning 
cf  Washington  was  disregarded  and  the  unity  of  our  govern 
ment  was  attacked.  In  blood  and  devastation  it  was  saved, 
and  the  name  of  "American,"  which  belonged  to  all  of  us,  was 
rescued.  From  the  gloom  of  desolation  and  estrangement  all 
our  countrymen  were  drawn  again  to  their  places  by  the  mystic 
bond  of  American  citizenship  which,  for  all  time  to  come,  shall 
hold  and  ennoble  them  as  hearty  co-workers  in  accomplishing 
the  national  destiny  which  to  the  day  of  his  death  inspired  the 
faith  and  hope  of  Washington. 

As  we  commemorate  his  birth  to-night,  we  will  invoke  his 
precious  influence  and  renew  our  patriotic  and  disinterested 
love  of  country.  Let  us  thank  God  that  he  has  lived,  and 


352         THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

that  he  has  given  to  us  the  highest  and  best  example  of  Ameri 
can  citizenship.  And  let  us  especially  be  grateful  that  we  have 
this  sacred  memory,  which  spanning  time,  vicissitude,  and 
unhappy  alienation,  calls  us  together  in  sincere  fellowship  and 
brotherly  love  on  "The  birthday  of  George  Washington." 


II. 

SENTIMENT    IN   OUR    NATIONAL   LIFE.* 

MR.   PRESIDENT,  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

Among  the  few  holidays  which  the  rush  and  hurry  of  Ameri 
can  life  concede  to  us,  surely  no  one  of  a  secular  character  is 
so  suggestive  and  impressive  as  the  day  we  celebrate  on  this 
occasion.  We  not  only  commemorate  the  birth  of  the  greatest 
American  who  ever  lived,  but  we  recall,  as  inseparably  con 
nected  with  his  career,  all  the  events  and  incidents  which  led 
up  to  the  establishment  of  free  institutions  in  this  land  of  ours, 
and  culminated  in  the  erection  of  our  wondrous  nation. 

The  University  of  Michigan,  therefore,  most  appropriately 
honors  herself  and  does  a  fitting  public  service  by  especially 
providing  for  such  an  observance  of  the  day  as  is  calculated 
to  turn  to  the  contemplation  of  patriotic  duty  the  thoughts  of 
the  young  men  whom  she  is  soon  to  send  out  to  take  places  in 
the  ranks  of  American  citizenship. 

I  hope  it  may  not  be  out  of  place  for  me  to  express  the 
gratification  it  affords  me  as  a  member  of  the  legal  profession, 
to  know  that  the  conduct  of  these  exercises  has  been  com 
mitted  to  the  classes  of  the  Law  Department  of  the  University. 
There  seems  to  me  to  be  a  propriety  in  this,  for  I  have  always 
thought  the  influences  surrounding  the  practice  and  study  of 
the  law  should  especially  induce  a  patriotic  feeling.  The 
business  of  the  profession  is  related  to  the  enforcement  and 
operation  of  the  laws  which  govern  our  people;  and  its  mem- 

*  An  address  before  the  students  of  the  University  of   Michigan,  at  Ann 
Arbor,  February  22,  1892. 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON.        353 

bers,  more  often  than  those  engaged  in  other  occupations,  are 
called  to  a  participation  in  making  these  laws.  Besides,  they 
are  constantly  brought  to  the  study  of  the  fundamental  law  of 
the  land,  and  a  familiarity  with  its  history.  Such  study  and 
familiarity  should  be  sufficient  of*  themselves  to  increase  a 
man's  love  of  country;  and  they  certainly  cannot  fail  to  arouse 
his  veneration  for  the  men  who  laid  the  foundations  of  our 
nation  sure  and  steadfast  in  a  written  constitution,  which  has 
been  declared,  by  the  greatest  living  English  statesman,  to  be 
"the  most  wonderful  work  ever  struck  off  at  a  given  time  by 
the  brain  and  purpose  of  man." 

Washington  had  more  to  do  with  the  formation  of  the  con 
stitution  than  our  enthusiasm  for  other  phases  of  the  great 
work  he  did  for  his  country  usually  makes  prominent.  He 
fought  the  battles  which  cleared  the  way  for  it.  He  best  knew 
the  need  of  consolidating  under  one  government  the  colonies 
he  had  made  free,  and  he  best  knew  that  without  this  consoli 
dation,  a  wasting  war,  the  long  and  severe  privations  and 
sufferings  his  countrymen  had  undergone  and  his  own  devoted 
labor  in  the  cause  of  freedom,  were  practically  in  vain.  The 
beginning  of  anything  like  a  public  sentiment  looking  to  the 
formation  of  our  nation  is  traceable  to  his  efforts.  The 
circular  letter  he  sent  to  the  governors  of  the  States,  as  early 
as  the  close  of  the  War  of  the  Revolution,  contained  the  germ  of 
the  constitution;  and  all  this  was  recognized  by  his  unanimous 
choice  to  preside  over  the  convention  that  framed  it.  His 
spirit  was  in  and  through  it  all. 

But  whatever  may  be  said  of  the  argument  presented  in 
support  of  the  propriety  of  giving  the  law  classes  the  manage 
ment  of  this  celebration,  it  is  entirely  clear  that  the  University 
herself  furnishes  to  all  her  students  a  most  useful  lesson  when, 
by  decreeing  the  observance  of  this  day,  she  recognizes  the 
fact  that  the  knowledge  of  books  she  imparts  is  not  a  complete 
fulfillment  of  her  duty,  and  concedes  that  the  education  with 
which  she  so  well  equips  her  graduates  for  individual  success 
in  life  and  for  business  and  professional  usefulness,  may  profit- 


354         THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

ably  be  supplemented  by  the  stimulation  of  their  patriotism> 
and  by  the  direction  of  their  thoughts  to  subjects  relating  to 
their  country's  welfare.  I  do  not  know  how  generally  such  an 
observance  of  Washington's  birthday,  as  has  been  here  estab 
lished,  prevails  in  our  other  universities  and  colleges;  but  I 
am  convinced  that  any  institution  of  learning  in  our  land  which 
neglects  to  provide  for  the  instructive  and  improving  observance 
of  this  day  within  its  walls,  falls  short  of  its  attainable  measure 
of  usefulness  and  omits  a  just  and  valuable  contribution  to  the 
general  good.  There  is  great  need  of  educated  men  in  our 
public  life,  but  it  is  the  need  of  educated  men  with  patriotism. 
The  college  graduate  may  be,  and  frequently  is,  more  unpatri 
otic  and  less  useful  in  public  affairs  than  the  man  who,  with 
limited  education,  has  spent  the  years  when  opinions  are 
formed  in  improving  contact  with  the  world  instead  of  being 
within  college  walls  and  confined  to  the  study  of  books.  If  it 
be  true,  as  is  often  claimed,  that  the  scholar  in  politics  is  gener 
ally  a  failure,  it  may  well  be  due  to  the  fact  that,  during  his 
formative  period  when  lasting  impressions  are  easily  received, 
his  intellect  alone  has  been  cultivated  at  the  expense  of  whole 
some  and  well-regulated  sentiment. 

I  speak  to-day  in  advocacy  of  this  sentiment.  If  it  is  not 
found  in  extreme  and  exclusive  mental  culture,  neither  is  it 
found  in  the  busy  marts  of  trade,  nor  in  the  confusion  of  bar 
gaining,  nor  in  the  mad  rush  after  wealth.  Its  home  is  in  the 
soul  and  memory  of  man.  It  has  to  do  with  the  moral  sense. 
It  reverences  traditions,  it  loves  ideas,  it  cherishes  the  names 
and  the  deeds  of  heroes,  and  it  worships  at  the  shrine  of  patri 
otism.  I  plead  for  it  because  there  is  a  sentiment,  which  in 
some  features  is  distinctively  American,  that  we  should  never 
allow  to  languish. 

When  we  are  told  that  we  are  a  practical  and  common  sense 
people,  we  are  apt  to  receive  the  statement  with  approval  and 
applause.  We  are  proud  of  its  truth  and  naturally  proud 
because  its  truth  is  attributable  to  the  hard  work  we  have  had 
to  do  ever  since  our  birth  as  a  nation,  and  because  of  the  stern 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON.        355 

labor  we  still  see  in  our  way  before  we  reach  our  determined 
destiny.  There  is  cause  to  suspect,  however,  that  another  and 
less  creditable  reason  for  our  gratification  arises  from  a  feeling 
that  there  is  something  heroically  American  in  treating  with 
indifference  or  derision  all  those  things  which,  in  our  view,  do 
not  directly  and  palpably  pertain  to  what  we  call,  with  much 
satisfaction,  practical  affairs,  but  which,  if  we  were  entirely 
frank,  we  should  confess  might  be  called  money-getting  ana 
the  betterment  of  individual  condition.  Growing  out  of  this 
feeling,  an  increasing  disposition  is  discernible  among  our 
people,  which  begrudges  to  sentiment  any  time  or  attention 
that  might  be  given  to  business  and  which  is  apt  to  crowd  out 
of  mind  any  thought  not  directly  related  to  selfish  plans  and 
purposes. 

A  little  reflection  ought  to  convince  us  that  this  may  be  car 
ried  much  too  far.  It  is  a  mistake  to  regard  sentiment  as 
merely  something  which,  if  indulged,  has  a  tendency  to  tempt 
to  idle  and  useless  contemplation  or  retrospection,  thus  weak 
ening  in  a  people  the  sturdiness  of  necessary  endeavor  and 
diluting  the  capacity  for  national  achievement. 

The  elements  which  make  up  the  sentiment  of  a  people 
should  not  be  counted  as  amiable  weaknesses  because  they  are 
not  at  all  times  noisy  and  turbulent.  The  gentleness  and 
loveliness  of  woman  do  not  cause  us  to  forget  that  she  can 
inspire  man  to  deeds  of  greatness  and  heroism;  that  as  wife 
she  often  makes  man's  career  noble  and  grand,  and  that  as 
mother  she  builds  and  fashions  in  her  son  the  strong  pillars  of 
a  State.  So  the  sentiment  of  a  people  which,  in  peace  and 
contentment,  decks  with  flowers  the  temple  of  their  rule,  may, 
in  rage  and  fury,  thunder  at  its  foundations.  Sentiment  is  the 
cement  which  keeps  in  place  the  granite  blocks  of  govern 
mental  power,  or  the  destructive  agency  whose  explosion  heaps 
in  ruins  their  scattered  fragments.  The  monarch  who  cares 
only  for  his  sovereignty  and  safety,  leads  his  subjects  to  fbrget- 
fulness  of  oppression  by  a  pretense  of  love  for  their  traditions; 
and  the  ruler  who  plans  encroachments  upon  the  liberties  of 


356         THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

his  people,  shrewdly  proceeds  under  the  apparent  sanction  of 
their  sentiment.  Appeals  to  sentiment  have  led  nations  to 
bloody  wars  which  have  destroyed  dynasties  and  changed  the 
lines  of  imperial  territory.  Such  an  appeal  summoned  our 
fathers  to  the  battlefields  where  American  independence  was 
won,  and  such  an  appeal  has  scattered  soldiers'  graves  all  over 
our  land,  which  mutely  give  evidence  of  the  power  of  our  gov 
ernment  and  the  perpetuity  of  our  free  institutions. 

I  have  thus  far  spoken  of  a  people's  sentiment  as  something 
which  may  exist  and  be  effective  under  any  form  of  govern 
ment,  and  in  any  national  condition.  But  the  thought  natur 
ally  follows,  that,  if  this  sentiment  may  be  so  potent  in  coun 
tries  ruled  by  a  power  originating  outside  of  popular  will,  how 
vital  must  its  existence  and  regulation  be  among  our  country 
men,  who  rule  themselves  and  make  and  administer  their  own 
laws.  In  lands  less  free  than  ours,  the  control  of  the  governed 
may  be  more  easily  maintained  if  those  who  are  set  over  them 
see  fit  to  make  concession  to  their  sentiment;  yet,  with  or 
without  such  concession,  the  strong  hand  of  force  may  still 
support  the  power  to  govern.  But  sentiment  is  the  very  life 
blood  of  our  nation.  Our  government  was  conceived  amid 
the  thunders  that  echoed  "All  men  are  created  equal,"  and 
it  was  brought  forth  while  free  men  shouted  "We,  the  people 
of  the  United  States."  The  sentiment  of  our  fathers,  made 
up  of  their  patriotic  intentions,  their  sincere  beliefs,  their 
homely  impulses  and  their  noble  aspirations,  entered  into  the 
government  they  established;  and,  unless  it  is  constantly  sup 
ported  and  guarded  by  a  sentiment  as  pure  as  theirs,  our 
scheme  of  popular  rule  will  fail.  Another  and  a  different  plan 
may  take  its  place;  but  this  which  we  hold  in  sacred  trust,  as 
it  originated  in  patriotism,  is  only  fitted  for  patriotic  and 
honest  uses  and  purposes,  and  can  only  be  administered  in  its 
integrity  and  intended  beneficence,  by  honest  and  patriotic 
men.  It  can  no  more  be  saved  nor  faithfully  conducted  by  a 
selfish,  dishonest,  and  corrupt  people,  than  a  stream  can  rise 
above  its  source  or  be  better  and  purer  than  its  fountain  head. 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON.       357 

None  of  us  can  be  ignorant  of  the  ideas  which  constitute  the 
sentiment  underlying  our  national  structure.  We  know  they 
are  a  reverent  belief  in  God,  a  sincere  recognition  of  the  value 
and  power  of  moral  principle  and  those  qualities  of  heart  which 
make  a  noble  manhood,  devotion  to  unreserved  patriotism,  love 
for  man's  equality,  unquestioning  trust  in  popular  rule,  the 
exaction  of  civic  virtue  and  honesty,  faith  in  the  saving  quality 
of  universal  education,  protection  of  a  free  and  unperverted 
expression  of  the  popular  will,  and  an  insistence  upon  a 
strict  accountability  of  public  officers  as  servants  of  the 
people. 

These  are  the  elements  of  American  sentiment;  and  all 
these  should  be  found  deeply  imbedded  in  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  our  countrymen.  When  anyone  of  them  is  displaced, 
the  time  has  come  when  a  danger  signal  should  be  raised. 
Their  lack  among  the  people  of  other  nations — however 
great  and  powerful  they  may  be — can  afford  us  no  comfort  nor 
reassurance.  We  must  work  out  our  destiny  unaided  and 
alone  in  full  view  of  the  truth  that  nowhere,  so  directly  and 
surely  as  here,  does  the  destruction  or  degeneracy  of  the 
people's  sentiment  undermine  the  foundations  of  governmental 
rule. 

Let  us  not  for  a  moment  suppose  that  we  can  outgrow  our 
dependence  upon  this  sentiment,  nor  that  in  any  stage  of 
national  advance  and  development  it  will  be  less  important. 
As  the  love  of  family  and  kindred  remains  to  bless  and 
strengthen  a  man  in  all  the  vicissitudes  of  his  mature  and  busy 
life,  so  must  our  American  sentiment  remain  with  us  as  a  peo 
ple — a  sure  hope  and  reliance  in  every  phase  of  our  country's 
growth.  Nor  will  it  suffice  that  the  factors  which  compose 
this  sentiment  have  a  sluggish  existence  in  our  minds,  as  arti 
cles  of  an  idle  faith  which  we  are  willing  perfunctorily  to 
profess.  They  must  be  cultivated  as  motive  principles,  stimu 
lating  us  to  effort  in  the  cause  of  good  government,  and 
constantly  warning  us  against  the  clanger  and  dishonor  of 
faithlessness  to  the  sacred  cause  we  have  in  charge  and  heed- 


35 8         THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

lessness  of  the  blessings  vouchsafed   to  us  and  future  genera 
tions,  under  our  free  institutions. 

These  considerations  emphasize  the  value  which  should  be 
placed  upon  every  opportunity  afforded  us  for  the  contempla 
tion  of  the  pure  lives  and  patriotic  services  of  those  who  have 
been  connected  with  the  controlling  incidents  of  our  country's 
history.  Such  contemplation  cannot  fail  to  re-enforce  and 
revive  the  sentiment  absolutely  essential  to  useful  American 
citizenship,  nor  fail  to  arouse  within  us  a  determinaton  that 
during  our  stewardship  no  harm  shall  come  to  the  political 
gifts  we  hold  in  trust  from  the  fathers  of  the  Republic. 

It  is  because  George  Washington  completely  represented  all 
the  elements  of  American  sentiment  that*every  incident  of  his 
life,  from  his  childhood  to  his  death,  is  worth  recalling— 
whether  it  impresses  the  young  with  the  beauty  and  value  of 
moral  traits,  or  whether  it  exhibits  to  the  wisest  and  oldest  an 
example  of  sublime  accomplishment  and  the  highest  possible 
public  service.  Even  the  anecdotes  told  of  his  boyhood  have 
their  value.  I  have  no  sympathy  with  those  who,  in  these  latter 
days,  attempt  to  shake  our  faith  in  the  authenticity  of  these 
stories,  because  they  are  not  satisfied  with  the  evidence  in  their 
support,  or  because  they  do  not  seem  to  accord  with  the  con 
duct  of  boys  in  this  generation.  It  may  well  be,  that  the 
stories  should  stand  and  the  boys  of  the  present  day  be  pitied. 

At  any  rate,  these  anecdotes  have  answered  an  important 
purpose;  and  in  the  present  state  of  the  proofs,  they  should, 
in  my  opinion,  be  believed.  The  cherry  tree  and  hatchet 
incident  and  its  companion  declaration  that  the  Father  of  his 
Country  never  told  a  lie,  have  indelibly  fixed  upon  the  mind 
of  many  a  boy  the  importance  of  truthfulness.  Of  all  the 
legends  containing  words  of  advice  and  encouragement  which 
hung  upon  the  walls  of  the  little  district  schoolhouse  where  a 
large  share  of  my  education  was  gained,  I  remember  but  one, 
which  was  in  these  words:  "George  Washington  had  only  a 
common  school  education." 

I  will   not  plead  guilty  to  the  charge  of  dwelling  upon  the 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON.         359 

little  features  of  a  great  subject.  I  hope  the  day  will  never 
come  when  American  boys  cannot  know  of  some  trait  or  some 
condition  in  which  they  may  feel  that  they  ought  to  be  or  are 
like  Washington.  I  am  not  afraid  to  assert  that  a  multitude  of 
men  can  be  found  in  every  part  of  our  land,  respected  for 
their  probity  and  worth,  and  most  useful  to  the  country  and  to 
their  fellow-men,  who  will  confess  their  indebtedness  to  the 
story  of  Washington  and  his  hatchet;  and  many  a  man  has  won 
his  way  to  honor  and  fame,  notwithstanding  limited  school 
advantages,  because  he  found  hope  and  incentive  in  the  high 
mission  Washington  accomplished  with  only  a  common  school 
education.  These  are  not  little  and  trivial  things.  They 
guide  and  influence  the  forces  which  make  the  character  and 
sentiment  of  a  great  people. 

I  should  be  ashamed  of  my  country,  if,  in  further  speaking 
of  what  Washington  has  done  for  the  sentiment  of  his  country 
men,  it  was  necessary  to  make  any  excuse  for  a  reference 
to  his  constant  love  and  fond  reverence,  as  boy  and  man,  for 
his  mother.  This  filial  love  is  an  attribute  of  American  man 
hood,  a  badge  which  invites  our  trust  and  confidence,  and  an 
indispensable  element  of  American  greatness.  A  man  may 
compass  important  enterprises,  he  may  become  famous,  he  may 
win  the  applause  of  his  fellows,  he  may  even  do  public  service 
and  deserve  a  measure  of  popular  approval,  but  he  is  not  right 
at  heart,  andean  never  be  truly  great,  if  he  forgets  his  mother. 

In  the  latest  biography  of  Washington  we  find  the  follow 
ing  statement  concerning  his  mother:  "That  she  was  affec 
tionate  and  loving  cannot  be  doubted,  for  she  retained  to  the 
last  a  profound  hold  upon  the  reverential  devotion  of  her  son ; 
and  yet  as  he  rose  steadily  to  the  pinnacle  of  human  greatness, 
she  could  only  say  that  'George  had  been  a  good  boy,  and  she 
was  sure  he  would  do  his  duty.'  ' 

I  cannot  believe  that  the  American  people  will  consider 
themselves  called  upon  to  share  the  deprecatory  feeling  of  the 
biographer,  when  he  writes  that  the  mother  of  Washington 
could  only  say  of  her  son  that  she  believed  he  would  be 


360         THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE  WASHINGTON. 

faithful  to  the  highest  earthly  trusts,  because  he  had  been 
good ;  nor  that  they  will  regard  her  words  merely  as  an  amiably 
tolerated  expression  of  a  fond  mother.  If  they  are  true  to 
American  sentiment,  they  will  recognize  in  this  language  the 
announcement  of  the  important  truth  that,  under  our  institu 
tions  and  scheme  of  government,  goodness,  such  as  Washing 
ton's,  is  the  best  guarantee  for  the  faithful  discharge  of  public 
duty.  They  will  certainly  do  well  for  the  country  and  for  them 
selves,  if  they  adopt'  the  standard  the  intuition  of  this  noble 
woman  suggests,  as  the  measure  of  their  trust  and  confidence. 
It  means  the  exaction  of  moral  principle  and  personal  honor 
and  honesty  and  goodness  as  indispensable  credentials  to  politi 
cal  preferment. 

I  have  referred  only  incidentally  to  the  immense  influence 
and  service  of  Washington  in  forming  our  Constitution.  I 
shall  not  dwell  upon  his  lofty  patriotism,  his  skill  and  fortitude 
as  the  military  commander  who  gained  our  independence,  his 
inspired  wisdom,  patriotism,  and  statesmanship  as  first  President 
of  the  republic,  his  constant  love  for  his  countrymen,  and  his 
solicitude  for  their  welfare  at  all  times.  The  story  has  been 
often  told,  and  is  familiar  to  all.  If  I  should  repeat  it,  I 
should  only  seek  to  present  further  and  probably  unnecessary 
proof  of  the  fact  that  Washington  embodied  in  his  character, 
and  exemplified  in  his  career,  that  American  sentiment  in 
which  our  government  had  its  origin,  and  which  I  believe  to  be 
a  condition  necessary  to  our  healthful  national  life. 

I  have  not  assumed  to  instruct  you.  I  have  merely  yielded 
to  the  influence  of  the  occasion;  and  attempted  to  impress  upon 
you  the  importance  of  cultivating  and  maintaining  true  Ameri 
can  sentiment,  suggesting  that,  as  it  has  been  planted  and  rooted 
in  the  moral  faculties  of  our  countrymen,  it  can  only  flourish 
in  their  love  of  truth  and  honesty  and  virtue  and  goodness.  I 
believe  that  God  has  so  ordained  it  for  the  people  he  has 
selected  for  his  special  favor;  and  I  know  that  the  decrees  of 
God  are  never  obsolete. 

I  beg  you,  therefore,  to  take  with  you,  when  you  go  forth  to 


THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON.        36t 

assume  the  obligations  of  American  citizenship,  as  one  of  the 
best  gifts  of  your  Alma  Mater,  a  strong  and  abiding  faith  in 
the  value  and  potency  of  a  good  conscience  and  a  pure  heart. 
Never  yield  one  iota  to  those  who  teach  that  these  are  weak 
and  childish  things,  not  needed  in  the  struggle  of  manhood 
with  the  stern  realities  of  life.  Interest  yourselves  in  public 
affairs  as  a  duty  of  citizenship;  but  do  not  surrender  your  faith 
to  those  who  discredit  and  debase  politics  by  scoffing  at  senti 
ment  and  principle,  and  whose  political  activity  consists  in 
attempts  to  gain  popular  support  by  cunning  devices  and 
shrewd  manipulation.  You  will  find  plenty  of  these  who  will 
smile  at  your  profession  of  faith,  and  tell  you  that  truth  and 
virtue  and  honesty  and  goodness  were  well  enough  in  the  old 
days  when  Washington  lived,  but  are  not  suited  to  the  present 
size  and  development  of  our  country  and  the  progress  we  have 
made  in  the  art  of  political  management.  Be  steadfast.  The 
strong  and  sturdy  oak  still  needs  the  support  of  its  native 
earth,  and,  as  it  grows  in  size  and  spreading  branches,  its  roots 
must  strike  deeper  in  the  soil  which  warmed  and  fed  its  first 
tender  sprout.  You  will  be  told  that  the  people  have  no 
longer  any  desire  for  the  things  you  profess.  Be  not  deceived. 
The  people  are  not  dead  but  sleeping.  They  will  awaken  in 
good  timey  and  scourge  the  money-changers  from  their  sacred 
temple. 

You  may  be  chosen  to  public  office.  Do  not  shrink  from  it, 
for  holding  office  is  also  a  duty  of  citizenship.  But  do  not 
leave  your  faith  behind  you.  Every  public  office,  small  or 
great,  is  held  in  trust  for  your  fellow-citizens.  They  differ  in 
importance*  in  responsibility,  and  in  the  labor  they  impose; 
but  the  duties  of  none  of  them  ean  be  well  performed  if  the 
mentorship  of  a  good  conscience  and  pure  heart  be  discarded. 
Of  course,  other  equipment  is  necessary,  but  without  this  men 
torship  all  else  is  insufficient.  In  times  of  gravest  responsibil 
ity  it  will  solve  your  difficulties;  in  the  most  trying  hour  it  will 
lead  you  out  of  perplexities,  and  it  will,  at  all  times,  deliver  you 
from  temptation. 


362         THE  CHARACTER  OF  GEORGE   WASHINGTON. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  remind  you  that  we  may  all  properly 
learn  the  lesson  appropriate  to  Washington's  birthday,  if  we 
will;  and  that  we  shall  fortify  ourselves  against  the  danger  of 
falling  short  in  the  discharge  of  any  duty  pertaining  to  citizen 
ship,  if,  being  thoroughly  imbued  with  true  American  sentiment 
and  the  moral  ideas  which  support  it,  we  are  honestly  true  to 
ourselves. 

To  thine  own  self  be  true, 

And  it  must  follow  as  the  night  the  day  : 

Thou  can'st  not  then  be  false  to  any  man. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE    COINAGE    OF    SILVER. 
I. 

ALBANY,  February  24,  1885. 
To  THE  HON.  A.  J.  WARNER  AND  OTHERS,  Members  of  the 

Forty-eighth  Congress: 
GENTLEMEN  : 

THE  letter  which  I   have  had  the  honor  to  receive 
you    invites,  and,  indeed,  obliges   me   to   give    expression  to 
some  grave   public  necessities,  although   in    advance  of  the 
moment  when  they  would  become  the  objects  of  my  official 
care  and  partial  responsibility.     Your  solicitude  that  my  judg 
ment  shall  have   been  carefully  and    deliberately  formed  is 
entirely  just,  and  I  accept  the  suggestion  in  the  same  friendly 
spirit  in  which  it  has  been  made.     It  is  also  fully  justified  by 
the  nature  of  the  financial  crisis,  which,  under  the  operation  of 
the  act  of  Congress  of  February  28,  1878,  is  now  close  at  hand. 
By  a  compliance  with  the  requirements  of  that  law  all  the 
vaults  of  the  Federal  Treasury  have  been  and  are  heaped  full 
of  silver  coins,  which  are  now  worth  less  than  85  per  cent,  of 
the  gold  dollar  prescribed  as  "  the  unit  of  value  "  in  section  14 
of  the  act  of    February  12,  1873,  and  which,  with  the  silver 
certificates  representing  such  coin,  are  receivable  for  all  pub- 
lie  dues.     Being  thus  receivable,  while  also  constantly  increas 
ing  in  quantity  at  the  rate  of  $28,000,000  a  year,  it  has  fol 
lowed,  of  necessity,  that  the  flow  of  gold  into  the  Treasury 
has  been  steadily'  diminished.     Silver  and    silver  certificates 
have  displaced  and  are  now  displacing  gold,  and  the  sum  of  gold 
in  the  Federal  Treasury  now  available  for  the  payment  of  the 
gold  obligations  of  the  United  States,  and  for  the  redemption 

363 


3^4  THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER. 

of  the  United  States  notes  called  "  greenbacks,"  if  not  already 
encroached  upon,  is  perilously  near  such  encroachment. 

These  are  facts  which,  as  they  do  not  admit  of  difference  of 
opinion,  call  for  no  argument.  They  have  been  forewarned 
to  us  in  the  official  reports  of  every  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
from  1878  till  now.  They  are  plainly  affirmed  in  the  last 
December  report  of  the  present  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to 
the  Speaker  of  the  present  House  of  Representatives.  They 
appear  in  the  official  documents  of  this  Congress  and  in  the 
records  of  the  New  York  Clearing-house,  of  which  the  Treasury 
is  a  member,  and  through  which  the  bulk  of  the  receipts  and 
payments  of  the  Federal  Government  and  of  the  country  pass. 

These  being  the  facts  of  our  present  condition,  our  danger, 
and  our  duty  to  avert  that  danger,  would  seem  to  be  plain.  I 
hope  that  you  concur  with  me,  and  with  the  great  majority  of 
our  fellow-citizens,  in  deeming  it  most  desirable  at  the  present 
juncture  to  maintain  and  continue  in  use  the  mass  of  our  gold 
coin  as  well  as  the  mass  of  silver  already  coined.  This  is  pos 
sible  by  a  present  suspension  of  the  purchase  and  coinage  of 
silver.  I  am  not  aware  that  by  any  other  method  it  is  possible. 
It  is  of  momentous  importance  to  prevent  the  two  metals  from 
parting  company  ;  to  prevent  the  increasing  displacement  of 
gold  by  the  increasing  coinage  of  silver  ;  to  prevent  the  dis 
use  of  gold  in  the  custom-houses  of  the  United  States  in  the 
daily  business  of  the  people  ;  to  prevent  the  ultimate  expulsion 
of  gold  by  silver. 

Such  a  financial  crisis  as  these  events  would  certainly  pre 
cipitate,  were  it  now  to  follow  upon  so  long  a  period  of  com 
mercial  depression,  would  involve  the  people  of  every  city  and 
every  State  in  the  Union  in  a  prolonged  and  disastrous  trouble. 
The  revival  of  business  enterprise  and  prosperity,  so  ardently 
desired  and  apparently  so  near,  would  be  hopelessly  postponed. 
'  Gold  would  be  withdrawn  to  its  hoarding-places,  and  an  un 
precedented  contraction  in  the  actual  volume  of  our  currency 
would  speedily  take  place.  Saddest  of  all,  in  every  workshop, 
mill,  factory,  store,  and  on  every  railroad  and  farm,  the  wages 


THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER.  365 

of  labor,  already  depressed,  would  suffer  still  further  depres 
sion  by  a  scaling  down  of  the  purchasing  power  of  every  so- 
called  dollar  paid  into  the  hand  of  toil.  From  these  impend 
ing  calamities  it  is  surely  a  most  patriotic  and  grateful  duty  of 
the  representatives  of  the  people  to  deliver  them. 
I  am,  gentlemen,  with  sincere  respect,  your  fellow-citizen, 

GROVER   CLEVELAND. 


II. 

From  the  First  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  8,  1885. 

The  very  limited  amount  of  circulating  notes  issued  by  our 
national  banks  compared  with  the  amount  the  law  permits 
them  to  issue,  upon  a  deposit  of  bonds  for  their  redemption, 
indicates  that  the  volume  of  our  circulating  medium  may  be 
largely  increased  through  this  instrumentality. 

Nothing  more  important  than  the  present  condition  of  our 
currency  and  coinage  can  claim  your  attention. 

Since  February,  1878,  the  government  has,  under  the  com 
pulsory  provisions  of  law,  purchased  silver  bullion  and  coined 
the  same  at  the  rate  of  more  than  two  millions  of  dollars  every 
month.  By  this  process,  up  to  the  present  date,  215,759,431 
silver  dollars  have  been  coined. 

A  reasonable  appreciation  of  a  delegation  of  power  to  the 
general  government  would  limit  its  exercise,  without  express 
restrictive  words,  to  the  people's  needs  and  the  requirements 
of  the  public  welfare. 

Upon  this  theory,  the  authority  to  "  coin  money  "  given  to 
Congress  by  the  Constitution,  if  it  permits  the  purchase  by  the 
government  of  bullion  for  coinage  in  any  event,  does  not  justify 
such  purchase  and  coinage  to  an  extent  beyond  the  amount 
needed  for  a  sufficient  circulating  medium. 

The  desire  to  utilize  the  silver  product  of  the  country  should 
not  lead  to  a  misuse  or  the  perversion  of  this  power. 

The  necessity  for  such  an  addition  to  the  silver  currency  of 


366  THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER. 

the  nation  as  is  compelled  by  the  silver  coinage  act,  is  nega 
tived  by  the  fact  that  up  to  the  present  time  only  about  fifty 
millions  of  the  silver  dollars  so  coined  have  actually  found 
their  way  into  circulation,  leaving  more  than  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  millions  in  the  possession  of  the  government,  the 
custody  of  which  has  entailed  a  considerable  expense  for  the 
construction  of  vaults  for  its  deposit.  Against  this  latter 
amount  there  are  outstanding  silver  certificates  amounting  to 
about  ninety-three  millions  of  dollars. 

Every  month  two  millions  of  gold  in  the  public  Treasury 
are  paid  out  for  two  millions  or  more  of  silver  dollars,  to  be 
added  to  the  idle  mass  already  accumulated. 

If  continued  long  enough,  this  operation  will  result  in  the 
substitution  of  silver  for  all  the  gold  the  government  owns 
applicable  to  its  general  purposes.  It  will  not  do  to  rely  upon 
the  customs  receipts  of  the  government  to  make  good  this 
drain  of  gold,  because— the  silver  thus  coined  having  been 
made  legal  tender  for  all  debts  and  dues,  public  and  private, 
at  times  during  the  last  six  months  fifty-eight  per  cent,  of  the 
receipts  for  duties  has  been  in  silver  or  silver  certificates,  while 
the  average  within  that  period  has  been  twenty  percent.  The 
proportion  of  silver  and  its  certificates  received  by  the  govern 
ment  will  probably  increase  as  time  goes  on,  for  the  reason 
that,  the  nearer  the  period  approaches  when  it  will  be  obliged 
to  offer  silver  in  payment  of  its  obligations,  the  greater 
inducement  there  will  be  to  hoard  gold  against  depreciation  in 
the  value  of  silver,  or  for  the  purpose  of  speculating. 
This  hoarding  of  gold  has  already  begun. 
When  the  time  comes  that  gold  has  been  withdrawn  from 
circulation,  then  will  be  apparent  the  difference  between  the 
real  value  of  the  silver  dollar  and  a  dollar  in  gold,  and  the  two 
coins  will  part  company.  Gold,  still  the  standard  of  value, 
and  necessary  in  our  dealings  with  other  countries,  will  be  at  a 
premium  over  silver  ;  banks,  which  have  substituted  gold  for 
the  deposits  of  their  customers,  may  pay  them  with  silver 
bought  with  such  gold,  thus  making  a  handsome  profit  ;  rich 


THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER.  367 

speculators  will  sell  their  hoarded  gold  to  their  neighbors  who 
need  it  to  liquidate  their  foreign  debts,  at  a  ruinous  premium 
over  silver,  and  the  laboring  men  and  women  of  the  land,  most 
defenseless  of  all,  will  find  that  the  dollar,  received  for  the  wage 
of  their  toil,  has  sadly  shrunk  in  its  purchasing  power.  It  may 
be  said  that  the  latter  result  will  be  but  temporary,  and  that 
ultimately  the  price  of  labor  will  be  adjusted  to  the  change  ; 
but  even  if  this  takes  place  the  wage  worker  cannot  possibly 
gain,  but  must  inevitably  lose,  since  the  price  he  is  compelled 
to  pay  for  his  living  will  not  only  be  measured  in  a  coin  heavily 
depreciated,  and  fluctuating  and  uncertain  in  its  value,  but 
this  uncertainty  in  the  value  of  the  purchasing  medium  will  be 
made  the  pretext  for  an  advance  in  prices  beyond  that  justified 
by  actual  depreciation. 

The  words  uttered  in  1834  by  Daniel  Webster,  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  are  true  to-day  :  "  The  very  man  of  all 
others  who  has  the  deepest  interest  in  a  sound  currency,  and 
who  suffers  most  by  mischievous  legislation  in  money  matters, 
is  the  man  who  earns  his  daily  bread  by  his  daily  toil." 

The  most  distinguished  advocate  of  bi-metallism,  discussing 
our  silver  coinage,  has  lately  written  :  "  No  American  citi 
zen's  hand  has  yet  felt  the  sensation  of  cheapness,  either  in 
receiving  or  expending  the  Silver  Act  dollars." 

And  those  who  live  by  labor  or  legitimate  trade  never  will 
feel  that  sensation  of  cheapness.  However  plenty  silver  dol 
lars  may  become,  they  will  not  be  distributed  as  gifts  among 
the  people  ;  and  if  the  laboring  man  should  receive  four 
depreciated  dollars  where  he  now  receives  but  two,  he  will  pay 
in  the  depreciated  coin  more  than  double  the  price  he  now 
pays  for  all  the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life. 

Those  who  do  not  fear  any  disastrous  consequences  arising 
from  the  continued  compulsory  coinage  of  silver  as  now 
directed  by  law,  and  who  suppose  that  the  addition  to  the  cur 
rency  of  the  country  intended  as  its  result  will  be  a  public 
benefit,  are  reminded  that  history  demonstrates  that  the  point 
is  easily  reached  in  the  attempt  to  float  at  the  same  time  two 


368  THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER. 

sorts  of  money  of  different  excellence,  when  the  better  will 
cease  to  be  in  general  circulation.  The  hoarding  of  gold, 
which  has  already  taken  place,  indicates  that  we  shall  not 
escape  the  usual  experience  in  such  cases.  So,  if  this  silver 
coinage  be  continued,  we  may  reasonably  expect  that  gold  and 
its  equivalent  will  abandon  the  field  of  circulation  to  silver 
alone.  This,  of  course',  must  produce  a  severe  contraction  of 
our  circulating  medium,  instead  of  adding  to  it. 

It  will  not  be  disputed  that  any  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
government  to  cause  the  circulation  of  silver  dollars  worth 
eighty  cents,  side  by  side  with  gold  dollars  worth  one  hundred 
cents,  even  within  the  limit  that  legislation  does  not  run 
counter  to  the  laws  of  trade,  to  be  successful  must  be  seconded 
by  the  confidence  of  the  people  that  both  coins  will  retain  the 
same  purchasing  power  and  be  interchangeable  at  will.  A 
special  effort  has  been  made  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
to  increase  the  amount  of  our  silver  coin  in  circulation  ;  but 
the  fact  that  a  large  share  of  the  limited  amount  thus  put  out 
has  soon  returned  to  the  public  treasury  in  payment  of  duties, 
leads  to  the  belief  that  the  people  do  not  now  desire  to  keep 
it  in  hand  ;  and  this,  with  the  evident  disposition  to  hoard 
gold,  gives  rise  to  the  suspicion  that  there  already  exists  a  lack 
of  confidence  among  the  people  touching  our  financial  proc 
esses.  There  is  certainly  not  enough  silver  now  in  circula 
tion  to  cause  uneasiness  ;  and  the  whole  amount  coined  and 
now  on  hand  might,  after  a  time,  be  absorbed  by  the  people 
without  apprehension  ;  but  it  is  the  ceaseless  stream  that 
threatens  to  overflow  the  land  which  causes  fear  and  uncer 
tainty. 

What  has  been  thus  far  submitted  upon  this  subject  relates 
almost  entirely  to  considerations  of  a  home  nature,  uncon 
nected  with  the  bearing  which  the  policies  of  other  nations 
have  upon  the  question.  But  it  is  perfectly  apparent  that  a 
line  of  action  in  regard  to  our  currency  cannot  wisely  be 
settled  upon  or  persisted  in,  without  considering  the  attitude, 
on  the  subject,  of  other  countries  with  whom  we  maintain 


THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER.  369 

intercourse  through  commerce,  trade,  and  travel.  An 
acknowledgment  of  this  fact  is  found  in  the  Act  by  virtue  of 
which  our  silver  is  compulsorily  coined.  It  provides  that  "  the 
President  shall  invite  the  governments  of  the  countries  com 
posing  the  Latin  Union,  so  called,  and  of  such  other  European 
nations  as  he  may  deem  advisable,  to  join  the  United  States  in 
a  conference  to  adopt  a  common  ratio  between  gold  and  silver 
for  the  purpose  of  establishing  internationally  the  use  of 
bi-metallic  money  and  securing  fixity  of  relative  value  between 
these  metals." 

This  conference  absolutely  failed,  and  a  similar  fate  has 
awaited  all  subsequent  efforts  in  the  same  direction.  And 
still  we  continue  our  coinage  of  silver  at  a  ratio  different  from 
that  of  any  other  nation.  The  most  vital  part  of  the  silver- 
coinage  Act  remains  inoperative  and  unexecuted,  and  without 
an  ally  or  friend,  we  battle  upon  the  silver  field  in  an  illogical 
and  losing  contest. 

To  give  full  effect  to  the  design  of  Congress  on  this  subject 
1  have  made  careful  and  earnest  endeavor  since  the  adjourn 
ment  of  the  last  Congress. 

To  this  end  I  delegated  a  gentleman,  well  instructed  in  fiscal 
science,  to  proceed  to  the  financial  centers  of  Europe,  and,  in 
conjunction  with  our  Ministers  to  England,  France,  and  Ger 
many,  to  obtain  a  full  knowledge  of  the  attitude  and  intent  of 
those  governments  in  respect  of  the  establishment  of  such  an 
international  ratio  as  would  procure  free  coinage  of  both  metals 
at  the  mints  of  those  countries  and  our  own.  By  my  direction 
our  Consul  General  at  Paris  has  given  close  attention  to  the 
proceedings  of  the  congress  of  the  Latin  Union,  in  order  to  in 
dicate  our  interest  in  its  object  and  report  its  action. 

It  may  be  said,  in  brief,  as  the  result  of  these  efforts,  that  the 
attitude  of  the  leading  powers  remains  substantially  unchanged 
since  the  monetary  conference  of  1881,  nor  is  it  to  be  ques 
tioned  that  the  views  of  these  governments  are,  in  each  instance, 
supported  by  the  weight  of  public  opinion. 

The  steps  thus  taken  have  therefore  only  more  fully  demon- 


37°  THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER. 

strated  theuselessness  of  further  attempts,  at  present,  to  arrive 
at  any  agreement  on  the  subject  with  other  nations. 

In  the  meantime  we  are  accumulating  silver  coin,  based  upon 
our  own  peculiar  ratio,  to  such  an  extent,  and  assuming  so 
heavy  a  burden  to  be  provided  for  in  any  international  negoti 
ations,  as  will  render  us  an  undesirable  party  to*  any  future 
monetary  conference  of  nations. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  four  of  the  five  countries  compos 
ing  the  Latin  Union,  mentioned  in  our  coinage  Act,  embarrassed 
with  their  silver  currency,  have  just  completed  an  agreement 
among  themselves  that  no  more  silver  shall  be  coined  by  their 
respective  governments,  and  that  such  as  has  been  already 
coined,  and  in  circulation,  shall  be  redeemed  in  gold  by  the 
country  of  its  coinage.  The  resort  to  this  expedient  by  these 
countries  may  well  arrest  the  attention  of  those  who  suppose 
that  we  can  succeed,  without  shock  or  injury,  in  the  attempt  to 
circulate,  upon  its  merits,  all  the  silver  we  may  coin  under  the 
provisions  of  our  silver  coinage  Act. 

The  condition  in  which  our  Treasury  may  be  placed  by  a  per 
sistence  in  our  present  course,  is  a  matter  of  concern  to  every 
patriotic  citizen  who  does  not  desire  his  government  to  pay  in 
silver  such  of  its  obligations  as  should  be  paid  in  gold.  Nor 
should  our  condition  be  such  as  to  oblige  us,  in  a  prudent  man 
agement  of  our  affairs,  to  discontinue  the  calling  in  and  pay 
ment  of  interest-bearing  obligations,  which  we  have  the  right 
now  to  discharge,  and  thus  avoid  the  payment  of  further  inter 
est  thereon. 

The  so-called  debtor  class,  for  whose  benefit  the  continued 
compulsory  coinage  of  silver  is  insisted  upon,  are  not  dishonest 
because  they  are  in  debt  ;  and  they  should  not  be  suspected  of 
a  desire  to  jeopardize  the  financial  safety  of  the  country,  in 
order  that  they  may  cancel  their  present  debts  by  paying  the 
same  in  depreciated  dollars.  Nor  should  it  be  forgotten  that 
it  is  not  the  rich  nor  the  money-lender  alone  that  must  submit 
to  such  a  readjustment  enforced  by  the  government  and  their 
debtors.  The  pittance  of  the  widow  and  the  orphan,  and  the 


THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER.  37 * 

income  of  helpless  beneficiaries  of  all  kinds,  would  be  dis 
astrously  reduced.  The  depositors  in  savings  banks  and  in  other 
institutions  which  hold  in  trust  the  savings  of  the  poor,  when 
their  little  accumulations  are  scaled  down  to  meet  the  new  order 
of  things,  would,  in  their  distress,  painfully  realize  the  delusion 
of  the  promise  made  to  them  that  plentiful  money  would  im 
prove  their  condition. 

We  have  now  on  hand  all  the  silver  dollars  necessary  to 
supply  the  present  needs  of  the  people  and  to  satisfy  those  who 
from  sentiment  wish  to  see  them  in  circulation  ;  and  if  their 
coinage  is  suspended  they  can  be  readily  obtained  by  all  who 
desire  them.  If  the  need  of  more  is  at  any  time  apparent  their 
coinage  may  be  renewed. 

That  disaster  has  not  already  overtaken  us  furnishes  no  proof 
that  danger  does  not  wait  upon  a  continuation  of  the  present 
silver  coinage.  We  have  been  saved  by  the  most  careful  man 
agement  and  unusual  expedients,  by  a  combination  of  fortunate 
conditions,  an/ci  by  a  confident  expectation  that  the  course  of 
the  government  in  regard  to  silver  coinage  would  be  speedily 
changed  by  the  action  of  Congress. 

Prosperity  hesitates  upon  the  threshold  because  of  the  dan 
gers  and  uncertainties  surrounding  this  question.  Capital 
timidly  shrinks  from  trade,  and  investors  are  unwilling  to  take 
the  chance  of  the  questionable  shape  in  which  their  money  will 
be  returned  to  them,  while  enterprise  halts  at  a  risk  against 
which  care  and  sagacious  management  do  not  protect. 

As  a  necessary  consequence  labor  lacks  employment,  and 
suffering  and  distress  are  visited  upon  a  portion  of  our  fellow- 
citizens  especially  entitled  to  the  careful  consideration  of  those 
charged  with  the  duties  of  legislation.  No  interest  appeals  to 
us  so  strongly  for  a  safe  and  stable  currency  as  the  vast  army 
of  the  unemployed. 

I  recommend  the  suspension  of  the  compulsory  coinage  of 
silver  dollars,  directed  by  the  law  passed  in  February,  1878. 


37 2  THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER. 

III. 
From  the  Second  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  6,  1 886. 

During  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1886,  there  were 
coined,  under  the  compulsory  silver-coinage  Act  of  1878,  29,- 
838>9°5  silver  dollars,  and  the  cost  of  the  silver  used  in  such 
coinage  was  $23,448,960.01.  There  had  been  coined  up  to  the 
close  of  the  previous  fiscal  year,  under  the  provisions  of  the 
law,  203,882,554  silver  dollars,  and  on  the  ist  day  of  December, 
1886,  the  total  amount  of  such  coinage  was  $247,131,549. 

The  Director  of  the  Mint  reports  that  at  the  time  of  the  pas 
sage  of  the  law  of  1878  directing  this  coinage,  the  intrinsic 
value  of  the  dollars  thus  coined  was  ninety-four  and  one-fourth 
cents  each,  and  that  on  the  3ist  day  of  July,  1886,  the  price  of 
silver  reached  the  lowest  stage  ever  known,  so  that  the  intrinsic 
or  bullion  price  of  our  standard  silver  dollar  at  that  date  was 
less  than  seventy-two  cents.  The  price  of  silver  on  the  3oth 
day  of  November  last  was  such  as  to  make  these  dollars  intrin 
sically  wonh  seventy-eight  cents  each. 

These  differences  in  value  of  the  coins  represent  the  fluctua 
tions  in  the  price  of  silver,  and  they  certainly  do  not  indicate 
that  compulsory  coinage  by  the  government  enhances  the 
price  of  that  commodity  or  secures  uniformity  in  its  value. 

pjvery  fair  and  legal  effort  has  been  made  by  the  Treasury 
Department  to  distribute  this  currency  among  the  people.  The 
withdrawal  of  the  United  States  Treasury  notes  of  small  de 
nominations,  and  the  issuing  of  small  silver  certificates,  have 
been  resorted  to  in  the  endeavor  to  accomplish  this  result,  in 
obedience  to  the  will  and  sentiments  of  the  representatives  of 
the  people  in  the  Congress.  On  the  27th  day  of  November, 
1886,  the  people  held  of  these  coins,  or  certificates  representing 
them,  the  nominal  sum  of  $166,873,041,  and  we  still  had 
$79,464,345  in  the  Treasury,  as  against  about  $142,894,055  in 
the  hands  of  the  people,  and  $72,865,376  remaining  in  the 
Treasury  one  year  ago.  The  Director  of  the  Mint  again 
urges  the  necessity  of  more  vault  room  for  the  purpose  of 


THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER.  373 

storing  these  silver  dollars,  which  are  not  needed  for  circulation 
by  the  people. 

I  have  seen  no  reason  to  change  the  views  expressed  in  my 
last  annual  message  on  the  subject  of  this  compulsory  coin- 
age;  and  I  again  urge  its  suspension  on  all  the  grounds  con 
tained  in  my  former  recommendation,  re-enforced  by  the  sig 
nificant  increase  of  our  gold  exportations  during  the  last  year, 
as  appears  by  the  comparative  statement  herewith  presented, 
and  for  the  further  reasons  that  the  more  this  currency  is  dis 
tributed  among  the  people  the  greater  becomes  our  duty  to 
protect  it  from  disaster  ;  that  we  now  have  abundance  for  all 
our  needs  ;  and  that  there  seems  but  little  propriety  in  build 
ing  vaults  to  store  such  currency  when  the  only  pretense  for 
its  coinage  is  the  necessity  of  its  use  by  the  people  as  a  circu 
lating  medium. 


IV. 
From  Fourth  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December  3,  1888. 

At  the  close  of  the  fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1887,  there 
had  been  coined  under  the  compulsory  silver-coinage  Act  $266,- 
988,280  in  silver  dollars,  $55,504,310  of  which  were  in  the 
hands  of  the  people. 

On  the  3oth  day  of  June,  1888,  there  had  been  coined  $299,- 
708,790;  and  of  this  $55,829,303  was  in  circulation  in  coin, 
and  $200,387,376  in  silver  certificates,  for  the  redemption  of 
which  silver  dollars  to  that  amount  were  held  by  the  govern 
ment. 

On  the  3oth  day  of  November,  1888,  $312,570,990  had  been 
coined,  $60,970,990  of  the  silver  dollars  were  actually  in  circu 
lation,  and  $237,418,346  in  certificates. 

The  Secretary  recommends  the  suspension  of  the  further 
coinage  of  silver,  and  in  such  recommendation  I  earnestly 
concur. 


374  THE  COINAGE  OF  SILVER. 

V. 
Letter  to  the  Reform  Club  Meeting,  February  10,  1891. 

E.   ELLERY  ANDERSON,  Chairman  : 

DEAR  SIR:  I  have  this  afternoon  received  your  note  inviting 
me  to  attend  to-morrow  evening  the  meeting  called  for  the 
purpose  of  voicing  the  opposition  of  the  business  men  of  our 
city  to  "  the  free  coinage  of  silver  in  the  United  States." 

I  shall  not  be  able  to  attend  and  address  the  meeting  as  you 
request,  but  I  am  glad  that  the  business  interests  of  New  York 
are  at  last  to  be  heard  on  this  subject.  It  surely  cannot  be 
necessary  for  me  to  make  a  formal  expression  of  my  agree 
ment  with  those  who  believe  that  the  greatest  peril  would  be 
invited  by  the  adoption  of  the  scheme,  embraced  in  the  meas 
ure  now  pending  in  Congress,  for  the  unlimited  coinage  of 
silver  at  our  mints. 

If  we  have  developed  an  unexpected  capacity  for  the  assimi 
lation  of  a  largely  increased  volume  of  this  currency,  and  even 
if  we  have  demonstrated  the  usefulness  of  such  an  increase, 
these  conditions  fall  far  short  of  insuring  us  against  disaster 
if,  in  the  present  situation,  we  enter  upon  the  dangerous  and 
reckless  experiment  of  free,  unlimited,  and  independent  silver 
coinage. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

ON    PENSIONS    AND    TO    SOLDIERS'    ORGANIZATIONS. 
I. 

At  the  G.  A.  R.  Banquet,  in  Buffalo,  July  4,  1884. 

I  AM  almost  inclined  to  complain  because  the  sentiment  to 
which  I  am  requested  to  respond  is  not  one  which  permits  me  to 
speak  at  length  of  the  city  which,  for  more  than  twenty-nine 
years,  has  been  my  home.  You  bid  me  speak  of  the  State, 
while  everything  that  surrounds  me,  and  all  that  has  been 
done  to-day,  remind  me  of  other  things.  I  cannot  fail  to  re 
member  most  vividly,  to-night,  that  exactly  two  years  ago  I 
felt  that  much  of  the  responsibility  of  a  certain  celebration 
rested  on  my  shoulders.  I  suppose  there  were  others  who  did 
more  than  I  to  make  the  occasion  a  success,  but  I  know  that  I 
considered  myself  an  important  factor,  and  that  when,  after 
weeks  of  planning  and  preparation.,  the  day  came  and  finally 
passed,  I  felt  as  much  relieved  as  if  the  greatest  effort  of  rny 
life  had  been  a  complete  success. 

On  that  day  we  laid  the  corner  stone  of  the  monument 
which  has  to-day  been  unveiled  in  token  of  its  completion. 
We  celebrated,  too,  the  semi-centennial  of  our  city's  life.  I 
was  proud  then  to  be  its  chief  executive,  and  everything  con 
nected  with  its  interests  and  prosperity  was  dear  to  me.  To 
night  I  am  still  proud  to  be  a  citizen  of  Buffalo,  and  my  fellow- 
townsmen  cannot,  if  they  will,  prevent  the  affection  I  feel  for 
my  city  and  its  people.  But  my  theme  is  a  broader  one,  and 
one  that  stirs  the  heart  of  every  citizen  of  the  State. 

The  State  of  New  York,  in  all  that  is  great,  is  easily  the 
leader  of  all  the  States.  Its  history  is  filled  with  glorious 


375 


376  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

deeds,  and  its  life  is  bound  up  with  all  that  makes  the  nation 
great.  From  the  first  of  the  nation's  existence  our  State  has 
been  the  constant  and  generous  contributor  to  its  life  and 
growth  and  vigor. 

But  to  the  exclusion  of  every  other  thought  to-night,  there  is 
one  passage  in  the  history  of  the  State  that  crowds  upon  my 
mind. 

There  came  a  time  when  discord  reached  the  family  circle 
of  States,  threatening  the  nation's  life.  Can  we  forget  how 
wildly  New  York  sprang  forward  to  protect  and  preserve 
what  she  had  done  so  much  to  create  and  build  up.  Four 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  men  left  her  borders  to  stay  the 
tide  of  destruction. 

During  the  bloody  affray  which  followed,  nearly  fourteen 
thousand  and  five  hundred  of  ber  sons  were  killed  in  battle  or 
died  of  wounds.  Their  bones  lie  in  every  State  where  the 
war  for  the  Union  was  waged.  Add  to  these  nearly  seven 
teen  thousand  and  five  hundred  of  her  soldiers,  who,  within 
that  sad  time,  died  of  disease,  and  then  contemplate  the 
pledges  of  New  York's  devotion  to  a  united  country,  and  the 
proofs  of  her  faith  in  the  supreme  destiny  of  the  sisterhood  of 
States. 

And  there  returned  to  her  thousands  of  her  sons  who  fought 
and  came  home  laden  with  the  honors  of  patriotism,  many  of 
whom  still  survive,  and,  like  the  minstrels  of  old,  tell  us  of 
heroic  deeds  and  battles  won  which  saved  the  nation's 

life. 

When  our  monument,  which  should  commemorate  the  suf 
ferings  and  death  of  their  comrades,  was  begun,  the  veterans 
of  New  York  were  here.  To-day  they  come  again  and  view 
complete  its  fair  proportions,  which  in  the  years  to  come  shall 
be  a  token  that  the  patriotic  dead  are  not  forgotten. 

The  State  of  New  York  is  rich  in  her  soldier  dead,  and  she 
is  rich  in  her  veterans  of  the  war.  Those  who  still  survive, 
and  the  members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  hold  in' 
trust  for  the  State  the  blessed  memories  which  connect  her 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  377 

with   her  dead  ;  and  these   memories  we  know   will   be  kept 
alive  and  green. 

Long  may  the  State  have  her  veterans  of  the  war  ;  and  long 
may  she  hold  them  in  grateful  and  chastened  remembrance. 
And  as  often  as  her  greatness  and  her  grandeur  are  told,  let 
these  be  called  the  chief  jewels  in  her  crown. 


II. 
From  the  First  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December,  1885. 

While  there  is  no  expenditure  of  the  public  funds  which  the 
people  more  cheerfully  approve  than  that  made  in  recognition 
of  the  services  of  our  soldiers,  living  and  dead,  the  sentiment 
underlying  the  subject  should  not  be  vitiated  by  the  introduc 
tion  of  any  fraudulent  practices.  Therefore,  it  is  fully  as  im 
portant  that  the  rolls  should  be  cleansed  of  all  those  who  by 
fraud  have  secured  a  place  thereon,  as  that  meritorious  claims 
should  be  speedily  examined  and  adjusted.  The  reforms  in 
the  methods  of  doing  the  business  of  this  bureau  which  have 
lately  been  inaugurate  i  promise  better  results  in  both  these 
directions. 


III. 

From    the     Veto    of    the    Andrew    J.      White    Pension    Bill, 

May    8,   1886. 

The  policy  of  frequently  reversing,  by  special  enactment, 
the  decisions  of  the  bureau  invested  by  law  with  the  examina 
tion  of  pension  claims,  fully  equipped  for  such  examination, 
and  which  ought  not  to  be  suspected  of  any  lack  of  liberality 
to  our  veteran  soldiers,  is  exceedingly  questionable.  It  may 
well  be  doubted  if  a  committee  of  Congress  has  a  better  op 
portunity  than  such  an  agency  to  judge  of  the  merits  of  these 
claims,  if,  however,  there  is  any  lack  of  power  in  the  Pension 


37**  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

Bureau  for  a  full  investigation  it  should  be  supplied  ;  if  the 
system  adopted  is  inadequate  to  do  full  justice  to  claimants,  it 
should  be  corrected  ;  and  if  there  is  a  want  of  sympathy  and 
consideration  for  the  defenders  of  our  government  the  bureau 
should  be  reorganized. 

The  disposition  to  concede  the  most  generous  treatment  to 
the  disabled,  aged,  and  needy  among  our  veterans  ought  not 
to  be  restrained  ;  and  it  must  be  admitted  that,  in  some  cases, 
justice  and  equity  cannot  be  done  nor  the  charitable  tenden 
cies  of  the  government  in  favor  of  worthy  objects  of  its  care 
indulged  under  fixed  rules.  These  conditions  sometimes 
justify  a  resort  to  special  legislation  ;  but  I  am  convinced 
that  the  interposition  by  special  enactment  in  the  granting  of 
pensions  should  be  rare  and  exceptional.  In  the  nature  of 
things,  if  this  is  lightly  done  and  upon  slight  occasion,  an  invi 
tation  is  offered  for  the  presentation  of  claims  to  Congress, 
which,  upon  their  merits,  could  not  survive  the  test  of  an  ex 
amination  by  the  Pension  Bureau,  and  whose  only  hope  of 
success  depends  upon  sympathy,  often  misdirected,  instead  of 
right  and  justice.  The  instrumentality  organized  by  law  for 
the  determination  of  pension  claims  is  thus  often  overruled 
and  discredited,  and  there  is  danger  that  in  the  end  popular 
prejudice  will  be  created  against  those  who  are  worthily  en 
titled  to  the  bounty  of  the  government. 

There  have  lately  been  presented  to  me  on  the  same  day, 
for  approval,  nearly  two  hundred  and  forty  special  bills  grant 
ing  and  increasing  pensions,  and  restoring  to  the  pension  list 
the  names  of  parties  which  for  cause  have  been  dropped.  To 
aid  Executive  duty  they  were  referred  to  the  Pension  Bureau 
for  examination  and  report.  After  a  delay  absolutely  neces 
sary  they  have  been  returned  to  me  within  a  few  hours  of  the 
limit  constitutionally  permitted  for  Executive  action.  Two 
hundred  and  thirty-two  of  these  .bills  are  thus  classified  : 

Eighty-one  cover  cases  in  which  favorable  action  by  the 
Pension  Bureau  was  denied  by  reason  of  the  insufficiency  of 
the  testimony  filed  to  prove  the  facts  alleged. 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  379 

These  bills  I  have  approved  on  the  assumption  that  the 
claims  were  meritorious,  and  that  by  the  passage  of  the  bills 
the  government  has  waived  full  proof  of  the  facts. 

Twenty-six  of  the  bills  cover  claims  rejected  by  the  Pension 
Bureau,  because  the  evidence  produced  tended  to  prove  that 
the  alleged  disability  existed  before  the  claimant's  enlistment ; 
twenty- one  cover  claims  which  have  been  denied  by  such 
bureau,  because  the  evidence  tended  to  show  that  the  dis 
ability,  though  contracted  in  the  service,  was  not  incurred  in 
the  line  of  duty  ;  thirty-three  cover  claims  which  have  been 
denied,  because  the  evidence  tended  to  establish  that  the  dis 
ability  originated  after  the  soldier's  discharge  from  the  army  ; 
forty-seven  cover  claims  which  have  been  denied,  because  the 
general  pension  laws  contain  no  provisions  under  which  they 
could  be  allowed  ;  and  twenty-four  of  the  claims  have  never 
been  presented  to  the  Pension  Bureau. 


IV. 

From  the  Message   Vetoing  the  Elizabeth  S.  De  Krafft 
Pension  Bill,  June  21,  1886. 

I  am  so  thoroughly  tired  of  disapproving  gifts  of  public 
money  to  individuals  who,  in  my  view,  have  no  right  or  claim 
to  the  same,  notwithstanding  apparent  Congressional  sanction, 
that  I  interpose,  with  a  feeling  of  relief,  a  veto  in  a  case  where 
I  find  it  unnecessary  to  determine  the  merits  of  the  application. 
In  speaking  of  the  promiscuous  and  ill-advised  grants  of  pen 
sions  which  have  lately  been  presented  to  me  for  approval, 
I  have  spoken  of  their  "  apparent  Congressional  sanction  "  in 
recognition  of  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion  of  these  bills 
have  never  been  submitted  to  a  majority  of  either  branch  of 
Congress,  but  are  the  results  of  nominal  sessions  held  for  the 
express  purpose  of  their  consideration  and  attended  by  a 
small  minority  of  the  members  of  the  respective  houses  of  the 
legislative  branch  of  government. 


38°  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

Thus,  in  considering  these  bills,  I  have  not  felt  that  I  was 
aided  by  the  deliberate  judgment  of  the  Congress  ;  and  when 
I  have  deemed  it  my  duty  to  disapprove  many  of  the  bills 
presented,  I  have  hardly  regarded  my  action  as  a  dissent  from 
the  conclusions  of  the  people's  representatives. 

I  have  not  been  insensible  to  the  suggestions  which  should 
influence  every  citizen,  either  in  private  station  or  official  place, 
to  exhibit  not  only  a  just  but  a  generous  appreciation  of  the 
services  of  our  country's  defenders.  In  reviewing  the  pension 
legislation  presented  to  me,  many  bills  have  been  approved 
upon  the  theory  that  every  doubt  should  be  resolved  in  favor 
of  the  proposed  beneficiary.  I  have  not,  however,  been  able 
to  divest  myself  entirely  of  the  idea  that  the  public  money 
appropriated  for  pensions  is  the  soldiers'  fund,  which  should 
be  devoted  to  the  indemnification  of  those  who,  in  the  defense 
of  the  Union  and  in  the  nation's  service,  have  worthily  suffered, 
and  who,  in  the  day  of  their  dependence,  resulting  from  such 
suffering,  are  entitled  to  the  benefaction  of  their  government. 
This  reflection  lends  to  the  bestowal  of  pensions  a  kind  of 
sacredness  which  invites  the  adoption  of  such  principles  and 
regulations  as  will  exclude  perversion  as  well  as  insure  a  lib 
eral  and  generous  application  of  grateful  and  benevolent  designs. 
Heedlessness  and  a  disregard  of  the  principle  which  underlies 
the  granting  of  pensions  are  unfair  to  the  wounded,  crippled 
soldier,  who  is  honored  in  the  just  recognition  of  his  govern 
ment.  Such  a  man  should  never  find  himself  side  by  side  on 
the  pension-roll  with  those  who  have  been  tempted  to  attribute 
the  natural  ills  to  which  humanity  is  heir  to  service  in  the 
army.  Every  relaxation  of  principle  in  the  granting  of  pen 
sions  invites  applications  without  merit,  and  encourages  those 
who,  for  gain,  urge  honest  men  to  become  dishonest.  Thus  is 
the  demoralizing  lesson  taught  the  people  that,  as  against  the 
public  Treasury,  the  most  questionable  expedients  are  allow 
able. 


TO  SOLDIKKS*  ORGANIZATIONS.  3Sl 


V. 


From  the  Message  Vetoing  the  Francis  Deming  Pension  Bill, 
July^  1886. 

None  of  us  is  entitled  to  credit  for  extreme  tenderness  and 
consideration  toward  those  who  fought  their  country's  battles  ; 
these  are  sentiments  common  to  all  good  citizens  ;  they  lead 
to  the  most  benevolent  care  on  the  part  of  the  government 
and  deeds  of  charity  and  mercy  in  private  life.  The  blatant 
and  noisy  self-assertion  of  those  who,  from  motives  that  may 
well  be  suspected,  declare  themselves  above  all  others  friends 
of  the  soldier,  cannot  discredit  or  belittle  the  calm,  steady, 
and  affectionate  regard  of  a  grateful  nation. 

An  appropriation  has  just  been  passed  settingapart  seventy- 
six  millions  of  dollars  of  the  public  money  for  distribution  as 
pensions,  under  laws  liberally  constructed,  with  a  view  of  meet 
ing  every  meritorious  case  ;  more  than  a  million  of  dollars 
was  added  to  maintain  the  Pension  Bureau,  which  is  charged 
with  the  duty  of  a  fair,  just,  and  liberal  apportionment  of  this 

fund.  4 

Legislation  has  been  at  the  present  session  of  Congress  per 
fected,  considerably  increasing  the  rate  of  pension  in  certain 
cases.     Appropriations  have  also  been  made  of  large  sums  for 
the  support  of  national   homes  where   sick,  disabled,  or  needy 
soldiers  are  cared   for  ;  and  within   a   few  days  a  liberal   sum 
'  has  been  appropriated  for  the  enlargement  and   increased  ac 
commodation  and  convenience  of  these  institutions. 
All  this  is  no  more  than  should  be  done. 
But  with  all  this,  and  with  the  hundreds  of  special  acts  which 
have  been   passed,  granting   pensions   in  cases  where,  for  my 
part,  I  am  willing  to  confess  that  sympathy  rather  than  judg 
ment  has  often  led  to  the  discovery  of  a  relation  between  injury 
or  death  and  military  service,  I  am   constrained  by  a  sense  of 
public  duty  to  interpose  against  establishing   a  principle  and 
setting  a  precedent  which  must  result  in  unregulated,  partial, 


382  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

and  unjust  gifts  of  public  money  under  the  pretext  of  indem 
nifying  those  who  suffered  in  their  means  of  support  as  an 
incident  of  military  service. 


VI. 

From  the  Second  Annual  Message,  December,  1886. 

The  American  people,  with  a  patriotic  and  grateful  regard 
for  our  ex-soldiers— too  broad  and  too  sacred  to  be  monop 
olized  by  any  special  advocates— are  not  only  willing  but 
anxious  that  equal  and  exact  justice  should  be  done  to  all 
honest  claimants  for  pensions.  In  their  sight  the  friendless 
and  destitute  soldier,  dependent  on  public  charity,  if  otherwise 
entitled,  has  precisely  the  same  right  to  share  in  the  provision 
made  for  those  who  fought  their  country's  battles  as  those 
better  able,  through  friends  and  influence,  to  push  their  claims. 
Every  pension  that  is  granted  under  our  present  plan  upon 
any  other  grounds  than  actual  service  and  injury  or  disease 
incurred  in  such  service,  and  every  instance  of  the  many  in 
which  pensions  are  increased  on  other  grounds  than  the  merits 
of  the  claim,  work  an  injustice  to  the  brave  and  crippled,  but 
poor  and  friendless  soldier,  who  is  entirely  neglected  or  who 

must  be  content  with  the  smallest  sum  allowed   under  general 
laws. 

There  are  far  too  many  neighborhoods  in  which  are  found 
glaring  cases  of  inequality  of  treatment  in  the  matter  of  pen 
sions  ;  and  they  are  largely  due  to  a  yielding  in  the  Pension 
Bureau  to  importunity  on  the  part  of  those,  other  than  the 
pensioner,  who  are  especially  interested,  or  they  arise  from 
special  acts  passed  for  the  benefit  of  individuals.  " 

The  men  who  fought  side  by  side  should  stand  side  by  side 
when  they  participate  in  a  grateful  nation's  kind  remembrance. 

Every  consideration  of  fairness  and  justice  to  our  ex- 
soldiers,  and  the  protection  of  the  patriotic  instinct  of  our  cit 
izens  from  perversion  and  violation,  point  to  the  adoption  of  a 


TO  SOLDIERS'  OXGANIZA  77ONS.  383 

pension  system,  broad  and  comprehensive  enough  to  cover 
every  contingency,  and  which  shall  make  unnecessary  an 
objectionable  volume  of  special  legislation. 

As  long  as  we  adhere  to  the  principle  of  granting  pensions 
for  service,  and  disability  as  the  result  of  the  service,  the 
allowance  of  pensions  should  be  restricted  to  cases  presenting 
these  features. 

Every  patriotic  heart  responds  to  a  tender  consideration  for 
those  who,  having  served  their  country  long  and  well,  are  re 
duced  to  destitution  and  dependence,  not  as  an  incident  of 
their  service,  but  with  advancing  age  or  through  sickness  or 
misfortune.  We  are  all  tempted  by  the  contemplation  of  such 
a  condition  to  supply  relief,  and  are  often  impatient  of  the 
limitations  of  public  duty.  Yielding  to  no  one  in  the  desire 
to  indulge  this  feeling  of  consideration,  I  cannot  rid  myself 
of  the  conviction  that  if  these  ex-soldiers  are  to  be  relieved, 
they  and  their  cause  are  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  an  enact 
ment,  under  which  relief  may  be  claimed  as  a  right,  and  that 
such  relief  should  be  granted  under  the  sanction  of  law,  not 
in  evasion  of  it  ;  nor  should  such  worthy  objects  of  care,  all 
equally  entitled,  be  remitted  to  the  unequal  operation  of  sym 
pathy,  or  the  tender  mercies  of  social  and  political  influence 
with  their  unjust  discriminations. 

The  discharged  soldiers  and  sailors  of  the  country  are  our 
fellow-citizens,  and  interested  with  us  in  the  passage  and  faith 
ful  execution  of  wholesome  laws.  They  cannot  be  swerved 
from  their  duty  of  citizenship  by  artful  appeals  to  their  spirit 
of  brotherhood,  born  of  common  peril  and  suffering,  nor  will 
they  exact,  as  a  test  of  devotion  to  their  welfare,  a  willingness 
to  neglect  public  duty  in  their  behalf. 


384  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

VII. 
Veto  of  the  Dependent  Pension  Bill. 

To  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

1  herewith  return  without  my  approval  House  Bill  No. 
10,457,  entitled  "An  act  for  the  relief  of  dependent  parents 
and  honorably  discharged  soldiers  and  sailors  who  are  now 
disabled  and  dependent  upon  their  own  labor  for  support." 

This  is  the  first  general  bill  that  has  been  sanctioned  by  the 
Congress,  since  the  close  of  the  late  Civil  War,  permitting  a 
pension  to  the  soldiers  and  sailors  who  served  in  that  war  upon 
the  ground  of  service  and  present  disability  alone,  and  in  the 
entire  absence  of  any  injuries  received  by  the  casualties  or 
incidents  of  such  service. 

While  by  almost  constant  legislation  since  the  close  of  this 
war  there  has  been  compensation  awarded  for  every  possible 
injury  received  as  a  result  of  military  service  in  the  Union 
Army,  and  while  a  great  number  of  laws  passed  for  that  pur 
pose  have  been  administered  with  great  liberality,  and  have 
been  supplemented  by  numerous  private  acts  to  reach  special 
cases,  there  has  not,  until  now,  been  an  avowed  departure 
from  the  principle,  thus  far  adhered  to  respecting  Union 
soldiers,  that  the  bounty  of  the  government,  in  the  way  of 
pensions,  is  generally  bestowed,  when  granted,  on  those  who,  in 
their  military  service  and  in  the  line  of  military  duty,  have,' to 
a  greater  or  less  extent,  been  disabled. 

But  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  service  pensions,  such 
as  are  permitted  by  the  second  section  of  the  bill  under'  con 
sideration,  are  new  to  our  legislation.  In  iSiS,  thirty-five 
years  after  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war,  they  were 
granted  to  the  soldiers  engaged  in  that  struggle,  conditional 
upon  service  t.ntil  the  end  of  the  war,  or  for  a"  term  not  less 
than  nine  months,  and  requiring  every  beneficiary  under  the 
act  to  be  one  "  who  is,  or  hereafter  by  reason  of  'his  reduced 
circumstances  in  life  shall  be,  hi  need  of  assistance  from  his 
country  for  support."  Another  law  of  a  like  character  was 


7V  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  385 

passed  in  1828,  requiring  service  until  the  close  of  the  Rev 
olutionary  war  ;  and  still  another,  passed  in  1832,  provided 
for  those  persons  not  included  in  the  previous  statute,  but  who 
served  two  years  at  some  time  during  the  war,  and  giving  a 
proportionate  sum  to  those  who  had  served  not  less  than  six 
months. 

A  service  pension  law  was  passed  for  the  benefit  of  the 
soldiers  of  1812  in  the  year  1871 — fifty-six  years  after  the 
close  of  that  war — which  required  only  sixty  days'  service; 
and  another  was  passed  in  1878 — sixty-three  years  after  the 
war — requiring  only  fourteen  days'  service. 

The  service  pension  bill  passed  at  this  session  of  Congress, 
thirty- nine  years  after  the  close  of  the  Mexican  war,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  soldiers  of  that  war,  requires  either  some  degree 
of  disability  or  dependency,  or  that  the  claimant  under  its 
provisions  should  be  sixty-two  years  of  age  ;  and  in  either 
case  that  he  should  have  served  sixty  days  or  been  actually 
engaged  in  a  battle. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  bill  of  1818  and  the  Mexican  pen 
sion  bill,  being  thus  passed  nearer  the  close  of  the  wars  in 
which  their  beneficiaries  were  engaged  than  the  others — one 
thirty-five  years  and  the  other  thirty-nine  years  after  the  ter 
mination  of  such  wars — embraced  persons  who  were  quite  ad 
vanced  in  age,  assumed  to  be  comparatively  few  in  number, 
and  whose  circumstances,  dependence,  and  disabilities  were 
clearly  defined  and  could  be  quite  easily  fixed. 

The  other  laws  referred  to  appear  to  have  been  passed  at  a 
time  so  remote  from  the  military  service  of  the  persons  which 
they  embraced,  that  their  extreme  age  alone  was  deemed  to 
supply  a  presumption  of  dependency  and  need. 

The  number  of  enlistments  in  the  Revolutionary  war  is 
stated  to  be  309,791,  and  in  the  war  of  1812,  576,622  ;  but  it 
is  estimated  that,  on  account  of  repeated  re-enlistments,  the 
number  of  individuals  engaged  in  these  wars  did  not  exceed 
one-half  of  the  number  represented  by  these  figures.  In  the 
war  with  Mexico  the  number  of  enlistments  is  reported  to  be 


ON  PENSIONS  AND 


112,230,  which  represents  a  greater  proportion  of  individuals 
engaged  than  the  reported  enlistments  in   the  two   previous 


wars. 


The  number  of  pensions  granted  under  all  laws  to  soldiers 
of  the  Revolution  is  given  at  62,069  \  to  soldiers  of  the  war  of 
1812  and  their  widows,  60,178;  and  to  soldiers  of  the  Mexican 
war  and  their  widows,  up  to  June  30,  1885,  7619.  The  latter 
pensions  were  granted  to  the  soldiers  of  a  war  involving  much 
hardship,  for  disabilities  incurred  as  a  result  of  such  service  ; 
and  it  was  not  till  within  the  last  month  that  the  few  remain-' 
ing  survivors  were  awarded  a  service  pension. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  terminated  nearly  twenty-two 
years  ago  ;  the  number  of  men  furnished  for  its  prosecution  is 
stated  to  be  2,772,408.  No  corresponding  number  of  statutes 
have  ever  been  passed  to  cover  every  kind  of  injury  or  disa 
bility  incurred  in  the  military  service  of  any  war.  Under 
these  statutes  561,576  pensions  have  been  granted  from  the 
year  1861  to  June  30,  1886,  and  more  than  2600  pensioners 
have  been  added  to  the  rolls  by  private  acts  passed  to  meet 
cases,  many  of  them  of  questionable  merit,  which  the  general 
laws  did  not  cover. 

On  the  ist  day  of  July,  1886,  365,763  pensioners  of  all 
classes  were  upon  the  pension  rolls,  o*f  whom  305,605  were 
survivors  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  and  their  widows  and 
dependents.  For  the  year  ending  June  30,  1887,  $75,000,000 
have  been  appropriated  for  the  payment  of  pensions,  and  the 
amount  expended  for  that  purpose  from  1861  to  July  i,  1886, 
is  $808,624,811.51. 

While  annually  paying  out  such  a  vast  sum  for  pensions 
already  granted,  it  is  now  proposed,  by  the  bill  under  consider 
ation,  to  award  a  service  pension  to  the  soldiers  of  all  wars  in 
which  the  United  States  has  been  engaged,  including,  of 
course,  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  and  to  pay  those  entitled  to 
the  benefits  of  the  act  the  sum  of  twelve  dollars  per  month. 

So  far  as  it  relates  to  the  soldiers  of  the  late  Civil  War,  the 
bounty  it  affords  them  is  given  thirteen  years  earlier  than  it 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  387 

has  been  furnished  to  the  soldiers  of  any  other  war,  and  before 
a  large  majority  of  its  beneficiaries  have  advanced  in  age 
beyond  the  strength  and  vigor  of  the  prime  of  life. 

It  exacts  a  military  or  naval  service  of  only  three  months, 
without  any  requirement  or  actual  engagement  with  an  enemy 
in  battle,  and  without  a  subjection  to  any  of  the  actual  dangers 
of  war. 

The  pension  it  awards  is  allowed  to  enlisted  men  who  have 
not  suffered  the  least  injury,  disability,  loss,  or  damage  of  any 
kind,  incurred  in  or  in  any  degree  referable  to  their  military 
service,  including  those  who  never  reached  the  front  at  all, 
and  those  discharged  from  rendezvous  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
if  discharged  three  months  after  enlistment.  Under  the  last 
call  of  the  President  for  troops,  in  December,  1864,  11,303 
men  were  furnished  who  were  thus  discharged. 

The  section  allowing  this  pension  does,  however,  require, 
besides  a  service  of  three  months  and  an  honorable  discharge, 
that  those  seeking  the  benefit  of  the  act  shall  be  such  as  "are 
now  or  may  hereafter  be  suffering  from  mental  or  physical 
disability,  not  the  result  of  their  own  vicious  habits  or  gross 
carelessness,  which  incapacitates  them  for  the  performance  of 
labor  in  such  a  degree  as  to  render  them  unable  to  earn  a 
support,  and  who  are  dependent  upon  their  daily  labor  for 
support." 

It  provides  further  that  such  persons  shall,  upon  making 
proof  of  the  fact,  "  be  placed  on  the  list  of  invalid  pensioners 
of  the  United  States,  and  be  entitled  to  receive,  for  such  total 
inability  to  procure  their  subsistence  by  daily  labor,  twelve 
dollars  per  month  ;  and  such  pension  shall  commence  from  the 
date  of  the  filing  of  the  application  in  the  Pension  Office, 
upon  proof  that  the  disability  then  existed,  and  continue 
during  the  existence  of  the  same  in  the  degree  herein  provided  ; 
provided  that  persons  who  are  now  receiving  pensions  under  ex 
isting  laws,  or  whose  claims  are  pending  in  the  Pension  Office, 
may,  by  application  to  the  Commissioner  of  Pensions,  in  such 
form  as  he  may  prescribe,  receive  the  benefit  of  this  act." 


388  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

It  is  manifestly  of  the  utmost  importance  that  statutes 
which,  like  pension  laws,  should  be  liberally  administered  as 
measures  of  benevolence  in  behalf  of  worthy  beneficiaries 
should  admit  of  no  uncertainty  as  to  their  general  objects  and 
consequences. 

Upon  a  careful  consideration  of  the  language  of  the  section 
of  this  bill  above  given,  it  seems  to  me  to  be  so  uncertain  and 
liable  to  such  conflicting  constructions,  and  to  be  subject  to 
such  unjust  and  mischievous  application,  as  to  furnish  alone 
sufficient  ground  for  disapproving  the  proposed  legislation. 

Persons  seeking  to  obtain  the  pension  provided  by  this 
section  must  be  now  or  hereafter  : 

1.  "Suffering  from  mental  or  physical  disability.'* 

2.  Such  disability   must   not   be   "  the    result  of  their   own 
vicious  habits  or  gross  carelessness." 

3.  Such  disability  must  be  such  as  "  incapacitates  them  for 
the  performance  of  labor  in  such  a  degree  as  to  render  them 
unable  to  earn  a  support." 

4-  They  must  be  "  dependent  upon  their  daily  labor  for 
support." 

5.  Upon  proof  of  these  conditions  they  shall  "  be  placed  on 
the  lists  of  invalid  pensioners  of  the  United  States,  and  be 
entitled  to  receive,  for  such  total  inability  to  procure  their 
subsistence  by  daily  labor,  twelve  dollars  per  month." 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  words  last  quoted,  "  such  total 
inability  to  procure  their  subsistence  by  daily  labor,"  at  all 
qualify  the  conditions  prescribed  in  the  preceding  language  of 
the  section.  The  "  total  inability  "  spoken  of  must  be  "  such" 
inability— that  is,  the  inability  already  described  and  con 
stituted  by  the  conditions  already  detailed  in  the  previous 
parts  of  the  section. 

It  thus  becomes  important  to  consider  the  meaning  and  the 
scope  of  these  last  mentioned  conditions. 

The  mental  and  physical  disability  spoken  of  has  a  distinct 
meaning  in  the  practice  of  the  Pension  Bureau,  and  includes 
every  impairment  of  bodily  or  mental  strength  and  vigor.  For 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  389 

such  disabilities  there  are  now  paid  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
one  different  rates  of  pension,  ranging  from  $i  to  $100  per 
month. 

This  disability  must  not  be  the  result  of  the  applicant's 
"  vicious  habits  or  gross  carelessness."  Practically,  this  divi 
sion  is  not  important.  The  attempt  of  the  government  to 
escape  the  payment  of  a  pension,  on  such  a  plea,  would,  of 
course,  in  a  very  large  majority  of  instances,  and  regardless  of 
the  merits  of  the  case,  prove  a  failure.  There  would  be  that 
strange  but  nearly  universal  willingness  to  help  the  individual 
as  between  him  and  the  public  Treasury  which  goes  very  far 
to  insure  a  state  of  proof  in  favor  of  the  claimant. 

The  disability  of  applicants  must  be  such  as  to  "  incapaci 
tate  them  for  the  performance  of  labor  in  such  a  degree  as  to 
render  them  unable  to  earn  a  support." 

It  will  be  observed  that  there  is  no  limitation  or  definition 
of  the  incapacitating  injury  or  ailment  itself.  It  need  only  be 
such  a  degree  of  disability  from  any  cause  as  renders  the 
claimant  unable  to  earn  a  support  by  labor.  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  "  support  "  here  mentioned  as  one  which  cannot  be 
earned,  is  a  complete  and  entire  support,  with  no  diminution 
on  account  of  the  least  impairment  of  physical  or  mental  con 
dition.  If  it  had  been  intended  to  embrace  only  those  who 
by  disease  or  injury  were  totally  unable  to  labor,  it  would  have 
been  very  easy  to  express  that  idea,  instead  of  recognizing,  as 
is  done,  a  "  degree  "  of  such  inability. 

What   is  a   support  ?     Who   is  to  determine  whether  a  man 
earns  it,  or  has  it,  or  has  it  not  ?     Is  the  government  to  enter  j 
the  homes  of  claimants  for  pension,  and  after  an  examination  \ 
of  their  surroundings  and  circumstances  settle  those  questions?  \ 
Shall  the  government  say  to  one  man  that  his  manner  of  sub 
sistence  by  his  earnings   is  a  support,  and  to  another  that  the 
things   his  earnings  furnish  are  not  a  support  ?     Any  attempt, 
however  honest,  to  administer  this  law  in  such  a  manner  would 
necessarily  produce  more  unfairness  and  unjust  discrimination 
and  give  more  scope  for   partisan   partiality,  and  would  result 


39°  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

in  more  perversion  of  the  government's  benevolent  intentions, 
than  the  execution  of  any  statute  ought  to  permit. 

If,  in  the  effort  to  carry  out  the  proposed  law,  the  degree  of 
disability,  as  related  to  earnings,  be  considered  for  the  purpose 
of  discovering  if  in  any  way  it  curtails  the  support  which  the 
applicant  if  entirely  sound  would  earn,  and  to  which  he  is  en 
titled,  we  enter  the  broad  field  long  occupied  by  the  Pension 
Bureau,  and  we  recognize  as  the  only  difference  between  the 
proposed  legislation  and  previous  laws  passed  for  the  benefit 
of  the  surviving  soldiers  of  the  civil  war,  the  incurrence  in  one 
case  of  disabilities  in  military  service,  and  in  the  other  disa 
bilities  existing,  but  in  no  way  connected  with  or  resulting 
from  such  service. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  no  case  is  there  any  grad 
ing  of  this  proposed  pension.  Under  the  operation  of  the  rule 
first  suggested,  if  there  is  a  lack  in  any  degree,  great  or  small, 
of  the  ability  to  earn  such  a  support  as  the  government  deter 
mines  the  claimant  should  have,  and  by  the  application  of  the 
rule  secondly  suggested,  if  there  is  a  reduction  in  any  degree 
of  the  support  which  he  might  earn  if  sound,  he  is  entitled  to 
a  pension  of  $12. 

In  the  latter  case,  and  under  the  proviso  of  the  proposed 
bill,  permitting  persons  now  receiving  pensions  to  be  admitted 
to  the  benefits  of  the  act,  I  do  not  see  how  those  now  on  the 
pension  roll  for  disabilities  incurred  in  the  service,  and  which 
diminish  their  earning  capacity,  can  be  denied  the  pension 
provided  in  this  bill. 

Of  course  none  will  apply  who  are  now  receiving  $12  or 
more  per  month.  But  on  the  3oth  day  of  June,  1886,  there 
were  on  the  pension  rolls  202,621  persons  who  were  receiving 
fifty-eight  different  rates  of  pension  from  $i  to  $11.75  Per 
month.  Of  these,  28,142  were  receiving $2  per  month;  63,116, 
$4  per  month  ;  37,254,  $6  per  month  ;  and  50,274,  whose  dis 
abilities  were  rated  as  total,  $8  per  month. 

As  to  the  meaning  of  the  section  of  the  bill  under  considera 
tion  there  appears  to  have  been  quite  a  difference  of  opinion 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  39 x 

among  its  advocates  in  the  Congress.  The  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Pensions  in  the  House  of  Representatives  who 
reported  the  bill,  declared  that  there  was  in  it  no  provision  for 
pensioning  anyone  who  has  a  less  disability  than  a  total  ina 
bility  to  labor,  and  that  it  was  a  charity  measure.  The  chair 
man  of  the  Committee  on  Pensions  in  the  Senate,  having 
charge  of  the  bill  in  that  body,  dissented  from  the  construc 
tion  of  the  bill  announced  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
and  declared  that  it  not  only  embraced  all  soldiers  totally  dis 
abled,  but  in  his  judgment  all  who  are  disabled  to  any  consid 
erable  extent;  and  such  a  construction  was  substantially  given 
to  the  bill  by  anothrer  distinguished  Senator  who,  as  a  former 
Secretary  of  the  Interior,  had  imposed  upon  him  the  duty  of 
executing  pension  laws  and  determining  their  intent  and 
meaning. 

Another  condition,  required  of  claimants  under  this  act,  is 
that  they  shall  be  "  dependent  upon  their  daily  labor  for  sup 
port." 

This  language,  which  may  be  said  to  assume  that  there 
exists  within  the  reach  of  the  persons  mentioned  "  labor,"  or 
the  ability  in  some  degree  to  work,  is  more  aptly  used  in  a 
statute  describing  those  not  wholly  deprived  of  this  ability, 
than  in  one  which  deals  with  those  utterly  unable  to  work. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  it  may  fairly  be  contended  that 
under  the  provisions  of  this  section  any  soldier,  whose  facul 
ties  of  mind  or  body  have  become  impaired  by  accident,  dis 
ease,  or  age,  irrespective  of  his  service  in  the  army  as  a  cause, 
and  who,  by  his  labor  only,  is  left  incapable  of  gaining-  the  fair 
support  he  might  with  unimpaired  powers  have  provided  for 
himself,  and  who  is  not  so  well  endowed  with  this  world's 
goods  as  to  live  without  work,  may  claim  to  participate  in  its 
bounty  ;  that  it  is  not  required  that  he  should  be  without 
property,  but  only  that  labo-r  should  be  necessary  to  his  sup 
port  in  some  degree  ;  nor  is  it  required  that  he  should  be  now 
receiving  support  from  others. 

Believing  this  to  be  the  proper   interpretation  of  the  bill,  I 


39 2  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

cannot  but  remember  that  the  soldiers  of  our  Civil  War,  in  their 
pay  and  bounty,  received  such  compensation  for  military  serv 
ice  as  had  never  been  received  by  soldiers  before,  since  man 
kind  first  went  to  war  ;  that  never  before,  on  behalf  of  any 
soldiery,  have  so  many  and  such  generous  laws  been  passed  to 
relieve  against  the  incidents  of  war  ;  that  statutes  have  been 
passed  giving  them  a  preference  in  all  public  employments  ; 
that  the  really  needy  and  homeless  Union  soldiers  of  the 
rebellion  have  been,  to  a  large  extent,  provided  for  at  soldiers' 
homes,  instituted  and  supported  by  the  government,  where 
they  are  maintained  together,  free  from  the  sense  of  degrada 
tion  which  attaches  to  the  usual  support  of  charity  ;  and  that 
never  before  in  the  history  of  the  country  has  it  been  proposed 
to  render  government  aid  toward  the  support  of  any  of  its 
soldiers  based  alone  upon  a  military  service  so  recent,  and 
where  age  and  circumstances  appeared  so  little  to  demand 
such  aid. 

Hitherto  such  relief  has  been  granted  to  surviving  soldiers 
few  in  number,  venerable  in  age,  after  a  long  lapse  of  time 
since  their  military  service,  and  as  a -parting  benefaction 
tendered  by  a  grateful  people. 

I  cannot  believe  that  the  vast  peaceful  army  of  Union 
soldiers,  who,  having  contentedly  resumed  their  places  in  the 
ordinary  avocations  of  life,  cherish  as  sacred  the  memory  of 
patriotic  service,  or  who,  having  been  disabled  by  the  casualties 
of  war,  justly  regard  the  present  pension-roll,  on  which  appear 
their  names,  as  a  roll  of  honor,  desire,  at  this  time  and  in  the 
present  exigency,  to  be  confounded  with  those  who,  through 
such  a  bill  as  this,  are  willing  to  be  objects  of  simple  charity 
and  to  gain  a  place  upon  the  pension  roll  through  alleged 
dependence. 

Recent  personal  observation  and  experience  constrain  me 
to  refer  to  another  result  which  will  inevitably  follow  the 
passage  of  this  bill.  It  is  sad,  but  nevertheless  true,  that 
already  in  the  matter  of  procuring  pensions  there  exists  a 
widespread  disregard  of  truth  and  good  faith,  stimulated  by 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  393 

those  who  as  agents  undertake  to  establish  claims  for  pensions, 
heedlessly  entered  upon  by  the  expectant  beneficiary,  and 
encouraged  or  at  least  not  condemned  by  those  unwilling  to 
obstruct  a  neighbor's  plans. 

In  the  execution  of  this  proposed  law,  under  any  interpreta 
tion,  a  wide  field  of  inquiry  would  be  opened  for  the  establish 
ment  of  facts  largely  within  the  knowledge  of  the  claimants 
?lone  ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  race  after  the  pen 
sions  offered  by  this  bill  would  not  only  stimulate  weakness 
and  pretended  incapacity  for  labor,  but  put  a  further  premium 
on  dishonesty  and  mendacity. 

The  effect  of  new  invitations  to  apply  for  pensions,  or  of 
new  advantages  added  to  causes  for  pensions  already  existing-, 
is  sometimes  startling. 

Thus  in  March,  1879,  large  arrearages  of  pensions  were 
allowed  to  be  added  to  all  claims  filed  prior  to  July  i,  1880. 
For  the  year  from  July  i,  1879,  to  July  i,  1880,  there  were 
filed  110,673  claims,  though  in  the  year  immediately  previous 
there  were  but  36,832  filed,  and  in  the  year  following  but 

i8,455; 

While  cost  should  not  be  set  against  a  patriotic  duty  or  the 
recognition  of  a  right,  still,  when  a  measure  proposed  is  based 
upon  generosity  or  motives  of  charity,  it  is  not  amiss  to  meditate 
somewhat  upon  the  expense  which  it  involves.  Experience 
has  demonstrated,  I  believe,  that  all  estimates  concerning  the 
probable  future  cost  of  a  pension  list  are  uncertain  and  un 
reliable,  and  always  fall  far  below  actual  realization. 

The  chairman  of  the  House  Committee  on  Pensions  calcu 
lates  that  the  number  of  pensioners  under  this  bill  would  be 
33,105,  and  the  increased  cost  $4,767,120;  this  is  upon  the 
theory  that  only  those  who  are  entirely  unable  to  work  would 
be  its  beneficiaries.  Such  was  the  principle  of  the  Revolu 
tionary  pension  law  of  1818,  much  more  clearly  stated,  it 
seems  to  me,  than  in  this  bill.  When  the  law  of  1818  was  up 
on  its  passage  in  Congress  the  number  of  pensioners  to  be 
benefited  thereby  was  thought  to  be  374  ;  but  the  number  of 


394  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

applicants  under  the  act  was  22,297,  and  the  number  of  pen 
sions  actually  allowed  20,485,  costing,  it  is  reported,  for  the 
first  year,  $1,847,900,  instead  of  $40,000,  the  estimated  expense 
for  that  period. 

A  law  was  passed  in  1853  for  the  benefit  of  the  surviving 
widows  of  Revolutionary  soldiers  who  were  married  after 
January  i,  1800.  It  was  estimated  that  they  numbered  300  at 
the  time  of  the  passage  of  the  act  ;  but  the  number  of  pensions 
allowed  was  3742,  and  the  amount  paid  for  such  pensions, 
during  the  first  year  of  the  operation  of  the  act,  was  $180,000 
instead  of  $24,000,  as  had  been  estimated. 

I  have  made  no  search  for  other  illustrations,  and  the  above, 
being  at  hand,  are  given  as  tending  to  show  that  estimates  can 
not  be  relied  upon  in  such  cases. 

If  none  should  be  pensioned  under  this  bill  except  those 
utterly  unable  to  work,  I  am  satisfied  that  the  cost  stated  in 
the  estimate  referred  to  would  be  many  times  multiplied,  and 
with  a  constant  increase  from  year  to  year  ;  and  if  those 
partially  unable  to  earn  their  support  should  be  admitted  to 
the  privileges  of  this  bill,  the  probable  increase  of  expense 
would  be  almost  appalling. 

I  think  it  may  be  said  that  at  the  close  of  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion,  every  Northern  State  and  a  great  majority  of  North 
ern  counties  and  cities  were  burdened  with  taxation  on 
account  of  the  large  bounties  paid  our  soldiers  ;  and  the 
bonded  debt,  thereby  created,  still  constitutes  a  large  item  in 
the  account  of  the  tax-gatherer  against  the  people.  Federal 
taxation,  no  less  borne  by  the  people  than  that  directly  levied 
upon  their  property,  is  still  maintained  at  the  rate  made  nec 
essary  by  the  exigencies  of  war.  If  this  bill  should  become  a 
law,  with  its  tremendous  addition  to  our  pension  obligation,  I 
am  thoroughly  convinced  that  further  efforts  to  reduce  the 
Federal  revenue  and  restore  some  part  of  it  to  our  people,  will 
and  perhaps  should  be  seriously  questioned. 

It  has  constantly  been  a  cause  of  pride  and  congratulation 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  395 

to  the  American  citizen  that  his  country  is  not  put  to  the 
charge  of  maintaining  a  large  standing  army  in  time  of  peace. 
Yet  we  are  now  living  under  a  war  tax  which  has  been  tolerated 
in  peaceful  times  to  meet  the  obligations  incurred  in  war.  But 
for  years  past,  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  the  demand  for  the 
reduction  of  the  burdens  of  taxation  upon  our  labor  and  pro 
duction  has  increased  in  volume  and  urgency. 

I  am  not  willing  to  approve  a  measure  presenting  the  objec 
tions  to  which  this  bill  is  subject,  and  which,  moreover,  will 
have  the  effect  of  disappointing  the  expectation  of  the  people 
and  their  desire  and  hope  for  relief  from  war  taxation  in  time 

of  peace. 

In    my  last  annual   message  the    following  language  was 

used  : 

Every  patriotic  heart  responds  to  a  tender  consideration  for  those  who, 
having  served  their  country  long  and  well,  are  reduced  to  destitution  and 
dependence,  not  as  an  incident  of  their  service,  but  with  advancing  age  or 
through  sickness  or  misfortune.  We  are  all  tempted  by  the  contemplation  of 
such  a  condition  to  supply  relief,  and  are  often  impatient  of  the  limitation  of 
public  duty.  Yielding  to  no  one  in  the  desire  to  indulge  this  feeling  of  con 
sideration,  I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  conviction  that  if  these  ex-soldiers  are 
to  be  relieved,  they  and  their  cause  are  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  an  enact 
ment,  under  which  relief  may  be  claimed  as  a  right,  and  that  such  relief 
should  be  granted  under  the  sanction  of  law,  not  in  evasion  of  it  ;  nor  should 
such  worthy  objects  of  care,  all  equally  entitled,  be  remitted  to  the  unequal 
operation  of  sympathy,  or  the  tender  mercies  of  social  and  political  influence 
with  their  unjust  discriminations. 

I  do  not  think  that  the  objects,  the  conditions,  and  the 
limitations  thus  suggested  are  contained  in  the  bill  under 
consideration. 

I  adhere  to  the  sentiments  thus  heretofore  expressed.  But 
the  evil  threatened  by  this  bill  is,  in  my  opinion,  such  that, 
charged  with  a  great  responsibility  in  behalf  of  the  people,  I 
cannot  do  otherwise  than  to  bring  to  the  consideration  of  this 
measure  my  best  efforts  of  thought  and  judgment,  and  perform 


396  (XV  PENSIONS  AND 

my  constitutional  duty  in  relation  thereto,  regardless  of  all 
consequences,  except  such  as  appear  to  me  to  be  related  to  the 
best  and  highest  interests  of  the  country. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 

WASHINGTON,  February  n,   1887. 


VIII. 

From  the  Message  Vetoing  the  Loren  Burritt  Pension  Bill, 
February  21,  1887. 

This  bill  was  reported  upon  adversely  by  the  House  Com 
mittee  on  Pensions  ;  and  they,  while  fully  acknowledging  the 
distressing  circumstances  surrounding  the  case,  felt  constrained 
to  adverse  action,  on  the  ground,  as  stated  in  the  language  of 
their  report,  that  "  there  are  many  cases  just  as  helpless  and 
requiring  as  much  attention  as  this  one,  and  were  the  relief 
asked  for  granted  in  this  instance  it  might  reasonably  be 
looked  for  in  all." 

No  man  can  check,  if  he  would,  the  feeling  of  sympathy  and 
pity  aroused  by  the  contemplation  of  utter  helplessness  as  the 
result  of  patriotic  and  faithful  military  service.  But  in  the 
midst  of  all  this,  I  cannot  put  out  of  mind  the  soldiers  in  this 
condition  who  were  privates  in  the  ranks,  who  sustained  the 
utmost  hardships  of  war,  but  who,  because  they  were  privates, 
and  in  the  humble  walks  of  life,  are  not  so  apt  to  share  in 
special  favors  of  Congressional  action.  I  find  no  reason  why 
this  beneficiary  should  be  singled  out  from  his  class,  except  it 
be  that  he  was  a  lieutenant-colonel  instead  of  a  private. 

I  am  aware  of  a  precedent  for  the  legislation  proposed, 
which  is  furnished  by  an  enactment  of  the  last  session  of  Con 
gress,  to  which  I  assented,  as  I  think  improvidently;  but  I  am 
certain  that  exact  equality  and  fairness  in  the  treatment  of  our 
veterans  is  after  all  more  just,  beneficent,  and  useful  than  un 
fair  discrimination  in  favor  of  officers,  or  the  special  benefit, 
born  of  sympathy,  in  individual  cases. 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  397 

IX. 

Letter  to  the  Reunion  of  Union  and  ex-Conff derate  Soldiers  held 
at  Gettysburg,  July  2,  1887. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  June  24,  1887. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

I  have  received  your  invitation  to  attend,  as  a  guest  of  the 
Philadelphia  Brigade,  a  reunion  of  ex-Confederate  soldiers  of 
Pickett's  Division  who  survived  their  terrible  charge  at  Get 
tysburg,  and  those  of  the  Union  Army  still  living,  by  whom  it 
was  heroically  resisted. 

The  fraternal  meeting  of  these  soldiers  upon  the  battlefield 
where  twenty-four  years  ago,  in  deadly  affray,  they  fiercely 
sought  each  other's  lives,  where  they  saw  their  comrades  fall, 
and  where  all  their  thoughts  were  of  vengeance  and  destruc 
tion,  will  illustrate  the  generous  impulse  of  brave  men  and 
their  honest  desire  for  peace  and  reconciliation. 

The  friendly  assault  there  to  be  made  will  be  resistless, 
because  inspired  by  American  chivalry;  and  its  results  will  be 
glorious,  because  conquered  hearts  will  be  its  trophies  of 
success.  Thereafter  this  battlefield  will  be  consecrated  by  a 
victory  which  shall  presage  the  end  of  the  bitterness  of  strife, 
the  exposure  of  the  insincerity  which  conceals  hatred  by  pro 
fessions  of  kindness,  the  condemnation  of  frenzied  appeals  to 
passion  for  unworthy  purposes,  and  the  beating  down  of  all 
that  stands  in  the  way  of  the  destiny  of  our  united  country. 

While  those  who  fought,  and  who  have  so  much  to  forgive, 
lead  in  the  pleasant  ways  of  peace,  how  wicked  appear  the 
traffic  in  sectional  hate  and  the  betrayal  of  patriotic  senti 
ment  ! 

It  surely  cannot  be  wrong  to  desire  the  settled  quiet  which 
lights  for  our  entire  country  the  path  to  prosperity  and  great 
ness  ;  nor  need  the  lessons  of  the  war  be  forgotten  and  its 
results  jeopardized  in  the  wish  for  that  genuine  fraternity 
which  insures  national  pride  and  glory. 


398  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

I  should  be  very  glad  to  accept  your  invitation  and  be  with 
you  at  that  interesting  reunion,  but  other  arrangements  already 
made  and  my  official  duties  here  will  prevent  my  doing  so. 

Hoping  that  the  occasion  will  be  as  successful  and  useful  as 
its  promoters  can  desire, 

I  am,  yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
MR.  JOHN  W.  FRAZIER,  Secretary,  etc. 


X. 
Letter  to  the  Mayor  of  St.  Louis,  Mo. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  July  4,  1887. 
HON.  DAVID  R.  FRANCIS,  Mayor  and  Chairman. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  When  I  received  the  extremely  cordial  and 
gratifying  invitation  from  the  citizens  of  St.  Louis,  tendered 
by  a  number  of  her  representative,  men,  to  visit  that  city  during 
the  national  encampment  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
I  had  been  contemplating  for  some  time  the  acceptance  of  aii 
invitation  from  that  organization  to  the  same  effect,  and  had 
considered  the  pleasure  which  it  would  afford  me,  if  it  should 
be  possible,  to  meet  not  only  members  of  the  Grand  Army,  but 
the  people  of  St.  Louis,  and  other  cities  in  the  West,  which  the 
occasion  would  give  me  an  opportunity  to  visit.  The  exac 
tions  of  my  public  duties  I  felt  to  be  so  uncertain,  however, 
that,  when  first  confronted  by  the  delegation  of  which  you 
were  the  head,  I  expected  to  do  no  more  at  that  time  than  to 
promise  the  consideration  of  the  double  invitation  tendered 
me,  and  express  the  pleasure  it  would  give  me  to  accept  the 
same  thereafter,  if  possible.  But  the  cordiality  and  sincerity 
of  your  presentation,  reinforced  by  the  heartiness  of  the  good 
people  who  surrounded  you,  so  impressed  me  that  I  could  not 
resist  the  feeling  which  prompted  me  to  assure  you  on  the 
spot  that  I  would  be  with  you  and  the  Grand  Army  of  the 


TO  SOLDIERS'    ORGANIZATIONS.  399 

Republic  at  the  time  designated,  if  nothing  happened  in  the 
meantime  absolutely  to  prevent  my  leaving  Washington. 

Immediately  upon  the  public  announcement  of  this  conclu 
sion,  expressions  emanating  from  certain  important  members 
of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  increasing  in  volume 
and  virulence,  constrained  me  to  review  my  acceptance  of 
these  invitations. 

The  expressions  referred  to  go  to  the  extent  of  declaring 
that  I  would  be  an  unwelcome  guest  at  the  time  and  place  of 
the  national  encampment.  This  statement  is  based,  as  well  as 
I  can  judge,  upon  certain  official  acts  of  mine,  involving  im 
portant  public  interests,  done  under  the  restraints  and  obliga 
tions  of  my  oath  of  office,  which  do  not  appear  to  accord  with 
the  wishes  of  some  members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Re 
public. 

1  refuse  to  believe  that  this  organization,  founded  upon 
patriotic  ideas,  composed  very  largely  of  men  entitled  to  lasting 
honor  and  consideration,  and  whose  crowning  glory  it  should 
be  that  they  are  American  citizens  as  well  as  veteran  soldiers, 
deems  it  a  part  of  its  mission  to  compass  any  object  or  pur 
pose  by  attempting  to  intimidate  the  Executive  or  coerce  those 
charged  with  making  and  executing  the  laws.  And  yet  the 
expressions  to  which  I  have  referred  indicate  such  a  preva 
lence  of  unfriendly  feeling  and  such  a  menace  to  an  occasion 
which  should  be  harmonious,  peaceful,  and  cordial,  that  they 
cannot  be  ignored. 

I  beg  you  to  understand  that  I  am  not  conscious  of  any  act 
of  mine  which  should  make  me  fear  to  meet  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  or  any  other  assemblage  of  my  fellow-citizens. 
The  account  of  my  official  stewardship  is  always  ready  for 
presentation  to  my  countrymen. 

I  should  not  be  frank  if  I  failed  to  confess,  while  disclaiming 
all  resentment,  that  I  have  been  hurt  by  the  unworthy  and 
wanton  attacks  upon  me  growing  out  of  this  matter,  and  the 
reckless  manner  in  which  my  actions  and  motives  have  been 
misrepresented  both  publicly  and  privately,  for  which,  how- 


4°°  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

ever,  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  as  a  body,  is  by  no 
means  responsible. 

The  threats  of  personal  violence  and  harm,  in  case  I  under 
took  the  trip  in  question,  which  scores  of  misguided,  unbal 
anced  men  under  the  stimulation  of  excited  feeling  have  made, 
are  not  even  considered. 

Rather  than  abandon  my  visit  to  the  West  and  disappoint 
your  citizens,  I  might,  if  I  alone  were  concerned,  submit  to 
the  insults  to  which,  it  is  quite  openly  asserted,  I  would  be 
helplessly  subjected  if  present  at  the  encampment;  but  I 
should  bear  with  me  there  the  people's  highest  office,  the 
dignity  of  which  I  must  protect  ;  and  I  believe  that  neither 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  as  an  organization,  nor  any 
thing  like  a  majority  of  its  members,  would  ever  encourage 
any  scandalous  attacks  upon  it. 

If,  however,  among  the  membership  of  this  body  there  are 
some,  as  certainly  seems  to  be  the  case,  determined  to  de 
nounce  me  and  my  official  acts  at  the  national  encampment,  I 
believe  they  should  be  permitted  to  do  so,  unrestrained  by  my 
presence  as  a  guest  of  their  organization,  or  as  a  guest  of  the 
hospitable  city  in  which  their  meeting  is  held. 

A  number  of  Grand  Army  posts  have  signified  their  inten 
tion,  I  am  informed,  to  remain  away  from  the  encampment  in 
case  I  visit  the^city  at  that  time.  Without  considering  the 
merits  of  such  an  excuse,  I  feel  that  I  ought  not  to  be  the 
cause  of  such  non-attendance.  The  time  and  place  of  the  en 
campment  were  fixed  long  before  my  invitations  were  received. 
Those  desiring  to  participate  in  its  proceedings  should  be  first 
regarded,  and  nothing  should  be  permitted  to  interfere  with 
their  intentions. 

Another  consideration  of  more  importance  than  all  others 
remains  to  be  noticed.  The  fact  was  referred  to  by  you  when 
you  verbally  presented  the  invitation  of  the  citizens  of  St. 
Louis,  that  the  coming  encampment  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic  would  be  the  first  held  in  a  Southern  State.  I  sup. 
pose  this  fact  was  mentioned  as  a  pleasing  indication  of  the 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  4O1 

fraternal  feeling  fast  gaining  ground  throughout  the  entire 
land  and  hailed  by  every  patriotic  citizen  as  an  earnest  that 
the  Union  has  really  and  in  fact  been  saved  in  sentiment  and 
in  spirit,  with  all  the  benefits  it  vouchsafes  to  a  united  people. 

I  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  belief  that  the  least  discord  on 
this  propitious  occasion  might  retard  the  progress  of  the  senti 
ment  of  the  common  brotherhood  which  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic  has  so  good  an  opportunity  to  increase  and 
foster.  I  certainly  ought  not  to  be  the  cause  of  such  discord 
in  any  event  or  upon  any  pretext. 

It  seems  to  me  that  you  and  the  citizens  of  St.  Louis  are 
entitled  to  this  unreserved  statement  of  the  conditions  which 
have  constrained  me  to  forego  my  contemplated  visit,  and  to 
withdraw  my  acceptance  of  your  invitation.  My  presence  in 
your  city,  at  the  time  you  have  indicated,  can  be  of  but  little 
moment  compared  with  the  importance  of  a  cordial  and  har 
monious  entertainment  of  your  other  guests. 

I  assure  you  that  I  abandon  my  plan  without  the  least  per 
sonal  feeling,  except  regret,  constrained  thereto  by  a  sense  of 
duty,  actuated  by  a  desire  to  save  any  embarrassment  to  the 
people  of  St.  Louis  or  their  expected  guests,  and  with  a 
heart  full  of  grateful  appreciation  of  the  sincere  and  unaffected 
kindness  of  your  citizens. 

Hoping  the  encampment  may  be  an  occasion  of  much  use 
fulness,  and  that  its  proceedings  may  illustrate  the   highest 
patriotism  of  American  citizenship. 
I  am, 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


XI. 

From  the  Message  Vetoing  the  Mary  Ann   Dougherty  Pension 
Bill,  July  5,  1888. 

I  cannot  spell  out  any  principle  upon  which  the   bounty  of 
the  government  is  bestowed  through   the   instrumentality  of 


4°2  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

the  flood  of  private  pension  bills  that  reach  me.  The  theory 
seems  to  have  been  adopted  that  no  man  who  served  in  the 
army  can  be  the  subject  of  death  or  impaired  health  except 
they  are  chargeable  to  his  service.  Medical  theories  are  set 
at  naught  and  the  most  startling  relation  is  claimed  between 
alleged  incidents  of  military  service  and  disability  or  death. 
Fatal  apoplexy  is  admitted  as  the  result  of  quite  insignificant 
wounds,  heart  disease  is  attributed  to  chronic  diarrhea,  con 
sumption  to  hernia,  and  suicide  is  traced  to  army  service  in  a 
wonderfully  devious  and  curious  way. 

Adjudications  of  the  Pension  Bureau  are  overruled  in  the 
most  peremptory  fashion  by  the  special  acts  of  Congress,  since 
nearly  all  the  beneficiaries  named  in  these  bills  have  unsuccess 
fully  applied  to  that  Bureau  for  relief. 

This  course  of  special  legislation  operates  very  unfairly. 
Those  with  certain  influence  or  friends  to  push  their  claims 
procure  pensions,  and  those  who  have  neither  friends  nor  in 
fluence  must  be  content  with  their  fate  under  general  laws. 
It  operates  unfairly  by  increasing,  in  numerous  instances,  the 
pensions  of  those  already  on  the  rolls,  while  many  other  more 
deserving  cases,  from  the  lack  of  fortunate  advocacy,  are 
obliged  to  be  content  with  the  sum  provided  by  general  laws. 
The  apprehension  may  well  be  entertained  that  the  freedom 
with  which  these  private  pension  bills  are  passed  furnishes  an 
inducement  to  fraud  and  imposition,  while  it  certainly  teaches 
the  vicious  lesson  to  our  people  that  the  treasury  of  the  Na 
tional  Government  invites  the  approach  of  private  need. 

None  of  us  should  be  in  the  least  wanting  in  regard  for  the 
veteran  soldier,  and  I  will  yield  to  no  man  in  a  desire  to  see 
those  who  defended  the  government  when  it  needed  defenders 
liberally  treated.  Unfriendliness  to  our  veterans  is  a  charge 
easily  and  sometimes  dishonestly  made. 

I  insist  that  the  true  soldier  is  a  good  citizen,  and  that  he 
will  be  satisfied  with  generous,  fair,  and  equal  consideration 
for  those  who  are  worthily  entitled  to  help. 

T  have  considered  the  pension  list  of  the  Republic  a  roll  of 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  4°3 

honor,  bearing  names  inscribed  by  national  gratitude,  and  not 
by  improvident  and  indiscriminate  alms-giving. 

I  have  conceived  the  prevention  of  the  complete  discredit 
which  must  ensue  from  the  unreasonable,  unfair,  and  reckless 
granting  of  pensions  by  special  acts  to  be  the  best  service  I 
can  render  our  veterans. 

In  the  discharge  of  what  has  seemed  to  me  my  duty  as  related 
to  legislation  and  in  the  interests  of  all  the  veterans  of  the 
Union  Army,  I  have  attempted  to  stem  the  tide  of  improvi 
dent  pension  enactments,  though  I  confess  to  a  full  share  of 
responsibility  for  some  of  these  laws  that  should  not  have  been 
passed. 

I  am  far  from  denying  that  there  are  cases  of  merit  which 
cannot  be  reached  except  by  special  enactment ;  but  I  do  not 
believe  there  is  a  member  of  either  House  of  Congress  who  will 
not  admit  that  this  kind  of  legislation  has  been  carried  too  far. 

I  have  now  before  me  more  than  one  hundred  special  pen 
sion  bills  which  can  hardly  be  examined  within  the  time  allowed 
for  that  purpose. 

My  aim  has  been  at  all  times,  in  dealing  with  bills  of  this 
character,  to  give  the  applicant  for  a  pension  the  benefit  of 
any  doubt  that  might  arise  and  which  balanced  the  propriety 
of  granting  a  pension,  if  there  seemed  any  just  foundation  for 
the  application  ;  but  when  it  seemed  entirely  outside  of  every 
rule,  in  its  nature  or  the  proof  supporting  it,  I  have  supposed 
I  only  did  my  duty  in  interposing  an  objection. 

It  seems  to  me  that  it  would  be  well  if  our  general  pension 
laws  should  be  revised  with  a  view  of  meeting  every  meritor 
ious  case  that  can  arise.  Our  experience  and  knowledge  of 
any  existing  deficiencies  ought  to  make  the  enactment  of  a 
complete  pension  code  possible.  In  the  absence  of  such  a 
revision,  and  if  pensions  are  to  be  granted  upon  equitable 
grounds  and  without  regard  to  general  laws,  the  present 
methods  would  be  greatly  improved  by  the  establishment  of 
some  tribunal  to  examine  the  facts  in  every  case  and  determine 
upon  the  merits  of  the  application. 


4°4  ON  PENSIONS  AND   • 

XII. 

From  the  Message  Vetoing  the  Theresa  Herbst  Pension  Bill, 
July  17,  1888. 

John  Herbst,  the  husband  of  the  beneficiary  named  in  this 
bill,  enlisted*  August  26,  1862.  He  was  wounded  in  the 
head  at  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  July  2,  1863.  He  re 
covered  from  this  wound,  and  on  the  iQth  day  of  August, 
1864,  was  captured  by  the  enemy.  After  his  capture  he 
joined  the  Confederate  forces,  and  in  1865  was  captured  by 
General  Stoneman,  while  in  arms  against  the  United  States 
Government.  He  was  imprisoned  and  voluntarily  made  known 
the  fact  that  he  formerly  belonged  to  the  Union  Army.  Upon 
taking  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  explaining  that  he  deserted 
to  the  enemy  to  escape  the  hardship  and  starvation  of  prison 
life,  he  was  released  and  mustered  out  of  the  service  on  the 
nth  day  of  October,  1865. 

He  was  regularly  borne  on  the  Confederate  muster-rolls  for 
probably  nine  or  ten  months.  No  record  is  furnished  of  the 
number  of  battles  in  which  he  fought  against  the  soldiers  of 
the  Union,  and  we  shall  never  know  the  death  and  the  wounds 
which  he  inflicted  upon  his  former  comrades  in  arms.  He 
never  applied  for  a  pension,  though  it  is  claimed  now  that  at 
the  time  of  his  discharge  he  was  suffering  from  rheumatism 
and  dropsy,  and  that  he  died  in  1868  of  heart  disease.  If  such 
disabilities  were  incurred  in  military  service  they  were  likely 
the  result  of  exposure  in  the  Confederate  Army  ;  but  it  is  not 
improbable  that  this  soldier  never  asked  a  pension  because  he 
considered  that  the  generosity  of  his  government  had  been 
sufficiently  taxed  when  the  full  forfeit  of  his  desertion  was  not 
exacted. 

The  greatest  possible  sympathy  and  consideration  are  due 
to  those  who  bravely  fought,  and,  being  captured,  as  bravely 
languished  in  rebel  prisons.  But  I  will  take  no  part  in  putting 
a  name  upon  our  pension-roll  which  represents  a  Union  soldier 
found  fighting  against  a  cause  he  swore  he  would  uphold  ; 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  4°5 

nor  should  it  be  for  a  moment  admitted  that  such  desertion 
and  treachery  are  excused  when  they  avoid  the  rigors  of 
honorable  capture  and  confinement.  It  would  have  been  a 
sad  condition  of  affairs  if  every  captured  Union  soldier  had 
deemed  himself  justified  in  fighting  against  his  government 
rather  than  to  undergo  the  privations  of  capture. 


XIII. 

From  the  Fourth  Annual  Message  to  Congress, 
December ;    1888. 

I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that  our  general  pension  laws 
should  be  revised  and  adjusted  to  meet,  as  far  as  possible  in 
the  light  of  our  experience,  all  meritorious  cases.  The  fact 
that  one  hundred  and  two  different  rates  of  pensions  are  paid 
cannot,  in  my  opinion,  be  made  consistent  with  justice  to  the 
pensioners  or  to  the  government  ;  and  the  numerous  private 
pension  bills  that  are  passed,  predicated  upon  the  imperfection 
of  general  laws,  while  they  increase  in  many  cases  existing 
inequality  and  injustice,  lend  additional  force  to  the  recom 
mendation  for  a  revision  of  the  general  laws  on  this  subject. 

The  laxity  of  ideas  prevailing  among  a  large  number  of  our 
people  regarding  pensions  is  becoming  every  day  more  marked. 
The  principles  upon  which  they  should  be  granted  are  in 
danger  of  being  altogether  ignored,  and  already  pensions  are 
often  claimed  because  the  applicants  are  as  much  entitled  as 
other  successful  applicants,  rather  than  upon  any  disability 
reasonably  attributable  to  military  service.  If  the  establish 
ment  of  vicious  precedents  be  continued,  if  the  granting  of 
pensions  be  not  divorced  from  partisan  and  other  unworthy 
and  irrelevant  considerations,  and  if  the  honorable  name  of 
veteran  unfairly  becomes  by  these  means  but  another  term 
for  one  who  constantly  clamors  for  the  aid  of  the  Government, 
there  is  danger  that  injury  will  be  done  to  the  fame  and 


40  6  ON  PENSIONS  AND 

patriotism  of  many  whom  our  citizens  all  delight  to  honor, 
and  that  a  prejudice  will  be  aroused  unjust  to  meritorious 
applicants  for  pensions. 


XIV. 
To  a  Pennsylvania  Grand  Army  Post. 

NEW  YORK,  October  24,  1889. 
E.  W.  FOSNOT,  ESQ. 

DEAR  SIR  :  Applications  such  as  you  make  in  your  letter  of 
the  22d  instant  are  so  numerous  that  it  is  impossible  to  comply 
with  them  all.  You  ask  that  Mrs.  Cleveland  or  I  shall  contribute 
something  to  be  "  voted  off  "  at  the  coming  fair  to  be  held  by 
Post  176,  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  Department  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  you  state  that  the  purpose  of  the  fair  is  to  in 
crease  the  charity  fund  of  the  Post. 

I  do  not  know  what  your  idea  is  as  to  the  thing  which  we 
should  send,  and  do  not  care  to  assume  that  anything  which 
we  might  contribute  to  be  *<  voted  off  "  would  be  of  especial 
value  to  the  cause  for  which  the  fair  is  to  be  held.  But  it  is  so 
refreshing,  in  these  days  when  the  good  that  is  in  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic  is  often  prostituted  to  the  worst  pur 
poses,  to  know  that  at  least  one  Post  proposes,  by  its  efforts, 
to  increase  its  efficiency  as  a  charitable  institution,  that  I 
gladly  send  a  small  money  contribution  in  aid  of  this  object. 

No  one  can  deny  that  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  has 
been  played  upon  by  demagogues  for  partisan  purposes,  and 
has  yielded  to  insidious  blandishments  to  such  an  extent  that 
it  is  regarded  by  many  good  citizens,  whose  patriotism  and 
fairness  cannot  be  questioned,  as  an  organization  which  has 
wandered  a  long  way  from  its  avowed  design.  Whether  this 
idea  is  absolutely  correct  or  not,  such  a  sentiment  not  only 
exists,  but  will  grow  and  spread,  unless  within  the  organization, 


TO  SOLDIERS'  ORGANIZATIONS.  4° 7 

something  is  done  to  prove  that  its  objects  are  not  partisan, 
unjust  and  selfish. 

In  this  country,  where  the  success  of  our  form  of  govern 
ment  depends  upon  the  patriotism  of  all  our  people,  the  best 
soldier  should  be  the  best  citizen. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    INDIAN    PROBLEM. 
I. 

From  the  First  Annual  Message  to  Congress,  December,  1885. 

IT  is  useless  to  dilate  upon  the  wrongs  of  the  Indians,  and  as 
useless  to  indulge  in  the  heartless  belief  that,  because  their 
wrongs  are  revenged  in  their  own  atrocious  manner,  therefore 
they  should  be  exterminated.  They  are  within  the  care  of  our 
government,  and  their  rights  are,  or  should  be,  protected  from 
invasion  by  the  most  solemn  obligations.  They  are  properly 
enough  called  the  wards  of  the  government;  and  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind  that  this  guardianship  involves,  on  our  part, 
efforts  for  the  improvement  of  their  condition  and  the  enforce 
ment  of  their  rights.  There  seems  to  be  general  concurrence 
in  the  proposition  that  the  ultimate  object  of  their  treatment 
should  be  their  civilization  and  citizenship.  Fitted  by  these 
to  keep  pace  in  the  march  of  progress  with  the  advanced  civil 
ization  about  them,  they  will  readily  assimilate  with  the  mass 
of  our  population,  assuming  the  responsibilities  and  receiving 
the  protection  incident  to  this  condition.  The  difficulty 
appears  to  be  in  the  selection  of  the  means  to  be  at  present 
employed  toward  the  attainment  of  this  result. 

Our  Indian  population,  exclusive  of  that  in  Alaska,  is 
reported  as  numbering  260,000,  nearly  all  being  located  on 
lands  set  apart  for  their  use  and  occupation,  aggregating  over 
134,000,000  of  acres.  These  lands  are  included  in  the  boun 
daries  of  171  reservations  of  different  dimensions,  scattered  in 
twenty-one  States  and  Territories,  presenting  great  variations 
in  climate  and  in  the  kind  and  quality  of  their  soils.  Among 


THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM.  4°9 

the  Indians  upon  these  several  reservations  there  exist  the  most 
marked  differences  in  natural  traits  and  disposition  and  in 
their  progress  toward  civilization.  While  some  are  lazy, 
vicious,  and  stupid,  others  are  industrious,  peaceful,  and 
intelligent;  while  a  portion  of  them  are  self-supporting  and 
independent,  and  have  so  far  advanced  in  civilization  that  they 
make  their  own  laws,  administered  through  officers  of  their 
own  choice,  and  educate  their  children  in  schools  of  their  own 
establishment  and  maintenance,  others  still  retain,  in  squalor 
and  dependence,  almost  the  savagery  of  their  natural  state. 

In  dealing  with  this  question  the  desires  manifested  by  the 
Indians  should  not  be  ignored.  Here,  again,  we  find  a  great 
diversity.  With  some  the  tribal  relation  is  cherished  with  the 
utmost  tenacity,  while  its  hold  upon  others  is  considerably 
relaxed ;  the  love  of  home  is  strong  with  all,  and  yet  there  are 
those  whose  attachment  to  a  particular  locality  is  by  no  means 
unyielding;  the  ownership  of  their  lands  in  severalty  is  much 
desired  by  some,  while  by  others,  and  sometimes  among  the 
most  civilized,  such  a  distribution  would  be  bitterly  opposed. 

The  variation  of  their  wants,  growing  out  of  and  connected 
with  the  character  of  their  several  locations,  should  be 
regarded.  Some  are  upon  reservations  most  fit  for  grazing, 
but  without  flocks  or  herds;  and  some,  on  arable  land,  have 
no  agricultural  implements;  while  some  of  the  reservations  are 
double  the  size  necessary  to  maintain  the  number  of  Indians 
now  upon  them;  in  a  few  cases,  perhaps,  they  should  be 
enlarged. 

Add  to  all  this  the  difference  in  the  administration  of  the 
agencies.  While  the  same  duties  are  devolved  upon  all,  the 
disposition  of  the  agents,  and  the  manner  of  their  contact  with 
the  Indians,  have  much  to  do  with  their  condition  and  welfare. 
The  agent  who  perfunctorily  performs  his  duty  and  slothfully 
neglects  all  opportunity  to  advance  their  moral  and  physical 
improvement,  and  fails  to  inspire  them  with  a  desire  for  better 
things,  will  accomplish  nothing  in  the  direction  of  their  civili 
zation,  while  he  who  feels  the  burden  of  an  important  trust, 


410  THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM. 

and  has  an  interest  in  his  work,  will,  by  consistent  example, 
firm,  yet  considerate  treatment,  and  well-directed  aid  and 
encouragement,  constantly  lead  those  under  his  charge  toward 
the  light  of  their  enfranchisement. 

The  history  of  all  the  progress  which  has  been  made  in  the 
civilization  of  the  Indian,  I  think  will  disclose  the  fact  that  the 
beginning  has  been  religious  teaching,  followed  by  or  accom 
panying  secular  education.  While  the  self-sacrificing  and 
pious  men  and  women  who  have  aided  in  this  good  work,  by 
their  independent  endeavor,  have  for  their  reward  the  benefi 
cent  results  of  their  labor  and  the  consciousness  of  Christian 
duty  well  performed,  their  valuable  services  should  be  fully 
acknowledged  by  all  who,  under  the.  law,  are  charged  with  the 
control  and  management  of  our  Indian  wards. 

What  has  been  said  indicates  that,  in  the  present  condition  of 
the  Indians,  no  attempt  should  be  made  to  apply  a  fixed  and 
unyielding  plan  of  action  to  their  varied  and  varying  needs 
and  circumstances. 

The  Indian  Bureau,  burdened  as  it  is  with  their  genera.1 
oversight  and  with  the  details  of  the  establishment,  can  hardly 
possess  itself  of  the  minute  phases  of  the  particular  cases  need 
ing  treatment;  and  thus  the  propriety  of  creating  an  instru 
mentality  auxiliary  to  those  already  established  for  the  care  of 
the  Indians  suggests  itself. 

I  recommend  the  passage  of  a  law  authorizing  the  appoint 
ment  of  six  commissioners,  three  of  whom  shall  be  detailed 
from  the  Army,  to  be  charged  with  the  duty  of  a  careful 
inspection  from  time  to  time  of  all  the  Indians  upon  our  reser 
vations  or  subject  to  the  care  and  control  of  the  government, 
with  a  view  of  discovering  their  exact  condition  and  needs, 
and  determining  what  steps  shall  be  taken  on  behalf  of  the 
government  to  improve  their  situation  in  the  direction  of  their 
self-support  and  complete  civilization;  that  they  ascertain  from 
such  inspection  what,  if  any,  of  the  reservations  may  be 
reduced  in  area,  and  in  such  cases  what  part,  not  needed  for 
Indian  occupation,  may  be  purchased  by  the  government  from 


THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM.  4U 

the  Indians,  and  disposed  of  for  their  benefit ;  what,  if  any, 
Indians  may,  with  their  consent,  be  removed  to  other  reserva 
tions,  with  a  view  of  their  concentration  and  the  sale  on  their 
behalf  of  their  abandoned  reservations;  what  Indian  lands  now 
held  in  common  should  be  allotted  in  severalty;  in  what  man 
ner  and  to  what  extent  the  Indians  upon  the  reservations  can 
be  placed  under  the  protection  of  our  laws  and  subjected  to 
their  penalties;  and  which,  if  any,  Indians  should  be  invested 
with  the  right  of  citizenship.  The  powers  and  functions  of  the 
commissioners  in  regard  to  these  subjects  should  be  clearly 
defined,  though  they  should,  in  conjunction  with  the  Secre 
tary  of  the  Interior,  be  given  all  the  authority  to  deal  defi 
nitely  with  the  questions  presented,  deemed  safe  and  consis 
tent. 

They  should  be  also  charged  with  the  duty  of  ascertaining 
the  Indians  who  might  properly  be  furnished  with  implements 
of  agriculture,  and  of  what  kind;  in  what  cases  the  support  of 
the  government  should  be  withdrawn ;  where  the  present  plan 
of  distributing  Indian  supplies  should  be  changed;  where 
schools,  may  be  established  and  where  discontinued;  the  con 
duct,  methods,  and  fitness  of  agents  in  charge  of  reservations; 
the  extent  to  which  such  reservations  are  occupied  or  intruded 
upon  by  unauthorized  persons;  and  generally  all  matters  re 
lated  to  the  welfare  and  improvement  of  the  Indian. 

They  should  advise  with  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  con 
cerning  these  matters  of  detail  in  management,  and  he  should 
be  given  power  to  deal  with  them  fully,  if  lie  is  not  now 
invested  with  such  power. 

This  plan  contemplates  the  selection  of  persons  for  commis 
sioners  who  are  interested  in  the  Indian  question,  and  who 
have  practical  ideas  upon  the  subject  of  their  treatment. 

The  expense  of  the  Indian  Bureau  during  the  last  fiscal  year 
was  more  than  $6,500,000.  I  believe  much  of  this  expendi 
ture  might  be  saved  under  the  plan  proposed  ;  that  its  econom 
ical  effects  would  be  increased  with  its  continuance;  that  the 
safety  of  our  frontier  settlers  would  be  subserved  under  its 


4 1  *  7Y//t  INDIAN  PROBLEM. 

operation,  and  that  the  nation  would  be  saved  through  its 
results  from  the  imputation  of  inhumanity,  injustice,  and  mis 
management. 


II. 

From  the    Second  Annual  Message,  December,   1886. 

The  present  system  of  agencies,  while  absolutely  necessary 
and  well  adapted  for  the  management  of  our  Indian  affairs  and 
for  the  ends  in  view  when  it  was  adopted,  is,  in  the  present 
stage  of  Indian  management,  inadequate,  standing  alone,  for 
the  accomplishment  of  an  object  which  has  become  pressing 
in  its  importance — the  more  rapid  transition  from  tribal  organ 
izations  to  citizenship  of  such  portions  of  the  Indians  as  are 
capable  of  civilized  life. 

When  the  existing  system  was  adopted  the  Indian  race  was 
outside  of  the  limits  of  organized  States  and  Territories,  and 
beyond  the  immediate  reach  and  operation  of  civilization;  and 
all  efforts  were  mainly  directed  to  ihe  maintenance  of  friendly 
relations  and  the  preservation  of  peace  and  quiet  on  the  fron 
tier.  All  this  is  now  changed.  There  is  no  such  thing  as  the 
Indian  frontier.  Civilization,  with  the  busy  hum  of  industry 
and  the  influences  of  Christianity,  surrounds  these  people  at 
every  point.  None  of  the  tribes  is  outside  of  the  bounds  of 
'  organized  government  and  society,  except  that  the  territorial 
system  has  not  been  extended  over  that  portion  of  the  country 
known  as  the  Indian  Territory.  As  a  race  the  Indians  are  no 
longer  hostile,  but  may  be  considered  as  submissive  to  the  con 
trol  of  the  government;  few  of  them  only  are  troublesome. 
Except  the  fragments  of  several  bands,  all  are  now  gathered 
upon  reservations. 

It  is  no  longer  possible  for  them  to  subsist  by  the  chase  and 
v  the  spontaneous  productions  of  the  earth.  With  an  abundance 
of  land,  if  furnished  with  the  means  and  implements  for  profit 
able  husbandry,  their  life  of  entire  dependence  upon  govern- 


THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM.  4*3 

ment  rations  from  day  to  day  is  no  longer  defensible.  Their 
inclination,  long  fostered  by  a  defective  system  of  control,  is 
to  cling  to  the  habits  and  customs  of  their  ancestors  and  strug 
gle  with  persistence  against  the  change  of  life  which  their 
altered  circumstances  press  upon  them.  But  barbarism  and 
civilization  cannot  live  together.  It  is  impossible  that  such 
incongruous  conditions  should  coexist  on  the  same  soil. 

They  are  a  portion  of  our  people,  are  under  the  authority  of 
our  government,  and  have  a  peculiar  claim  upon,  and  are 
entitled  to,  the  fostering  care  and  protection  of  the  nation. 
The  government  cannot  relieve  itself  of  this  responsibility  until 
they  are  so  far  trained  and  civilized  as  to  be  able  wholly  to 
manage  and  care  for  themselves.  The  paths  in  which  they 
should  walk  must  be  clearly  marked  out  for  them,  and  they 
must  be  led  or  guided  until  they  are  familiar  with  the  way  and 
competent  to  assume  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  our  citi 
zenship. 

Progress  in  this  great  work  will  continue  only  at  the  present 
slow  pace  and  at  great  expense,  unless  the  system  and  methods 
of  management  are  improved  to  meet  the  changed  conditions 
and  urgent  demands  of  the  service. 

The  agents  having  general  charge  and  supervision  in  many 
cases  of  more  than  5000  Indians,  scattered  over  large  reserva 
tions,  and  burdened  with  the  details  of  accountability  fqr  funds 
and  supplies,  have  time  to  look  after  the  industrial  training  and 
improvement  of  a  few  Indians  only;  the  many  are  neglected 
and  remain  idle  and  dependent — conditions  not  favorable  for 
progress  in  civilization. 

The  compensation  allowed  these  agents  and  the  conditions 
of  the  service  are  not  calculated  to  secure  for  the  work  men 
who  are  fitted  by  ability  and  skill  to  plan  properly  and  direct 
intelligently  the  methods  best  adapted  to  produce  the  most 
speedy  results  and  permanent  benefits.  Hence  the  necessity 
for  a  supplemental  agency  or  system,  directed  to  the  end  of  pro 
moting  the  general  and  more  rapid  transition  of  the  tribes  from 
habits  and  customs  of  barbarism  to  the  ways  of  civilization. 


4T4  THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM, 


With  an  anxious  desire  to  devise  some  plan  of  operation  by 
which  to  secure  the  welfare  of  the  Indians,  and  to  relieve  the 
Treasury  as  far  as  possible  from  the  support  of  an  idle  and 
dependent  population,  I  recommended  in  my  previous  annual 
message  the  passage  of  a  law  authorizing  the  appointment  of  a 
commission,  as  an  instrumentality  auxiliary  to  those  already 
established,  for  the  care  of  the  Indians.  It  was  designed  that 
this  commission  should  be  composed  of  six  intelligent  and 
capable  persons— three  to  be  detailed  from  the  Army— having 
practical  ideas  upon  the  subject  of  the  treatment  of  Indians, 
and  interested  in  their  welfare ;  and  that  it  should  be  charged, 
under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  with  the 
management  of  such  matters  of  detail  as  cannot,  with  the  pres 
ent  organization,  be  properly  and  successfully  conducted,  and 
which  present  different  phases,  as  the  Indians  themselves 
differ,  in  their  progress,  needs,  disposition,  and  capacity  for 
improvement  or  immediate  self-support. 

By  the  aid  of  such  a  commission  much  unwise  and  useless 
expenditure  of  money,  waste  of  materials,  and  unavailing 
effort  might  be  avoided;  and  it  is  hoped  that  this,  or  some 
measure  which  the  wisdom  of  Congress  may  better  devise  to 
supply  the  deficiency  of  the  present  system,  may  receive  your 
consideration,  and  the  appropriate  legislation  be  provided. 

The  .time  is  ripe  for  the  work  of  such  an  agency.  There  is 
less  opposition  to  the  education  and  training  of  the  Indian 
youth,  as  shown  by  the  increased  attendance  upon  the  schools, 
and  there  is  a  yielding  tendency  for  the  individual  holding  of 
lands.  Development  and  advancement  in  these  directions  are 
essential,  and  should  have  every  encouragement.  As  the  rising 
generation  are  taught  the  language  of  civilization  and  trained 
in  habits  of  industry,  they  should  assume  the  duties,  privileges, 
and  responsibilities  of  citizenship. 

No  obstacle  should  hinder  the  location  and  settlement  of  any 
Indian  willing  to  take  land  in  severalty;  on  the  contrary,  the 
inclination  to  do  so  should  be  stimulated  at  all  times  when 
proper  and  expedient.  Uut  there  is  no  authority  of  law  for 


THE  INDIA  N  PROBLEM.  4 1 5 

making  allotments  on  some  of  the  reservations,  and  on  others 
the  allotments  provided  for  are  so  small  that  the  Indians, 
though  ready  and  desiring  to  settle  down,  are  not  willing  to 
accept  such  small  areas  when  their  reservations  contain  ample 
lands  to  afford  them  homesteads  of  sufficient  size  to  meet  their 
present  and  future  needs. 

These  inequalities  of  existing  special  laws  and  treaties  should 
be  corrected,  and  some  general  legislation  on  the  subject 
should  be  provided,  so  that  the  more  progressive  members  of 
the  different  tribes  may  be  settled  upon  homesteads,  and  by 
their  example  lead  others  to  follow,  breaking  away  from  tribal 
customs  and  substituting  therefor  the  love  of  home,  the  inter 
est  of  the  family,  and  the  rule  of  the  State. 

The  Indian  character  and  nature  are  such  that  they  are  not 
easily  led  while  brooding  over  unadjusted  wrongs.  This  is 
especially  so  regarding  their  lands.  Matters  arising  from  the 
construction  and  operation  of  railroads  across  some  of  the 
reservations,  and  claims  of  title  and  right  of  occupancy  set  up 
by  white  persons  to  some  of  the  best  land  within  other  reserva 
tions,  require  legislation  for  their  final  adjustment. 

The  settlement  of  these  matters  will  remove  many  embar 
rassments  to  progress  in  the  work  of  leading  the  Indians  to  the 
adoption  of  our  institutions  and  bringing  them  under  the  oper 
ation,  the  influence,  and  the  protection  of  the  universal  laws 
of  our  country. 


III. 
Text-books   in  Indian  Schools. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,   March  29,  1888. 
REV.  JAMES  MORROW,  D.  D.: 

MY  DEAR  SIR:  I  have  received  from  you  certain  resolutions 
passed  at  the  Annual  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  held  at  Philadelphia  on  the  2oth  instant.  I  am  not 
informed  how  to  address  a  response  to  the  officers  of  the  con- 


41 6  THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM. 

ference  who  have  signed  these  resolutions,  and  for  that  reason 
I  transmit  my  reply  to  you. 

The  action  taken  by  this  assemblage  of  Christian  men  has 
greatly  surprised  and  disappointed  me.  They  declare  "that 
this  conference  earnestly  protests  against  the  recent  action  of 
the  government  excluding  the  use  of  native  languages  in  the 
education  of  the  Indians,  and  especially  the  exclusion  of  the 
Dakota  Bible  among  those  tribes  where  it  was  formerly  used. 
That,  while  admitting  that  there  are  advantages  in  teaching 
English  to  the  Indians,  to  compel  them  to  receive  all  religious 
instruction  in  that  language  would  practically  hinder  their  re 
ceiving  it  in  the  most  effective  way,  as  the  line  of  power  travels 
with  the  human  heart,  and  the  heart  of  the  Indian  is  in  his  lan 
guage.  That  it  is  in  harmony  with  the  genius  of  our  country 
— a  free  church  in  a  free  state — that  the  operations  of  all 
missionary  societies  should  be  untrammeled  by  state  inter 
ferences." 

The  rules  of  the  Indian  Bureau  upon  the  subject  referred 
to  are  as  follows  : 

First.  No  text-books  in  the  vernacular  will  be  allowed  in 
any  school  where  children  are  placed  under  contract  or  where 
the  government  contributes  in  any  manner  whatever  to  the 
support  of  the  school.  No  oral  instruction  in  the  vernacular 
will  be  allowed  at  such  schools.  The  entire  curriculum  must 
be  in  the  English  language. 

Second.  The  vernacular  may  be  used  in  missionary  schools 
only  for  oral  instruction  in  morals  and  religion,  where  it  is 
deemed  to  be  an  auxiliary  to  the  English  language  in  convey 
ing  such  instruction  ;  and  only  native  Indian  teachers  will  be 
permitted  to  teach  otherwise  in  any  Indian  vernacular;  and 
these  native  teachers  will  only  be  allowed  so  to  teach  in 
schools  not  supported  in  whole  or  in  part  by  the  government, 
and  at  remote  points,  where  there  are  no  government  or  con 
tract  schools  where  the  English  language  is  taught.  These 
native  teachers  are  only  allowed  to  teach  in  the  vernacular 
with  a  view  of  reeiching  those  Indians  who  cannot  have  the 


THE  INDIA  N  PROBLEM.  4 1 7 

advantages  of  instruction  in  English,  and  such  instruction 
must  give  way  to  the  English-teaching  schools  as  soon  as  they 
are  established  where  the  Indians  can  have  access  to  them. 

Third.  A  limited  theological  class  of  Indian  young  men  may 
be  trained  in  the  vernacular  at  any  purely  missionary  school 
supported  exclusively  by  missionary  societies,  the  object 
being  to  prepare  them  for  the  ministry,  whose  subsequent 
work  shall  be  confined  to  preaching,  unless  they  are  employed 
as  teachers  in  remote  settlements  where  English  schools  are 
inaccessible. 

Fourth.  These  rules  are  not  intended  to  prevent  the  posses 
sion  or  use  by  any  Indian  of  the  Bible  published  in  the  ver 
nacular,  but  such  possession  or  use  shall  not  interfere  with  the 
teachers  of  the  English  language  to  the  extent  and  in  the  manner 
herein  before  directed. 

The  government  seeks,  in  its  management  of  the  Indians, 
to  civilize  them,  and  to  prepare  them  for  that  contact  with  the 
world  which  necessarily  accompanies  civilization.  Manifestly, 
nothing  is  more  important  to  the  Indian,  from  this  point  of 
view,  than  a  knowledge  of  the  English  language.  All  the-, 
efforts  of  those  having  the  matter  in  charge  tend  to  the 
ultimate  mixture  of  the  Indians  with  our  other  people,  thus 
making  one  community  equal  in  all  those  things  which  pertain 
to  American  citizenship. 

But  this  ought  not  to  be  done  while  the  Indians  are  entirely 
ignorant  of  the  English  language.  It  seems  to  me  it  would  be 
a  cruel  mockery  to  send  them  out  into  the  world  without  this' 
shield  from  imposition  and  without  this  weapon  to  force  their 
way  to  self-support  and  independence. 

Nothing  can  be  more  consistent,  then,  than  to  insist  upon 
the  teaching  of  English  in  our  Indian  schools.  It  will  not  do 
to  permit  these  wards  of  the  nation,  in  their  preparation  to 
become  their  own  masters,  to  indulge  in  their  barbarous  lan 
guage  because  it  is  easier  for  them  or  because  it  pleases  them. 
The  action  of  the  conference,  therefore,  surprises  me,  if  by  it 
they  mean  to  protest  against  such  exclusion  as  is  prescribed  in 


4i8 


THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM. 


the  order.     It  will  be  observed  that  "text-books  in  the  vernac 
ular"   are    what   are   prohibited,  and   "oral    instruction";    the 
"entire  curriculum"  must  be  in  English.     These  are  the  terms 
used  to  define  the  elements  of  an  ordinary  secular  education 
and  do    not    refer    to    religious    or    moral    teaching.     Secular 
teaching  is  the  object  of  the  ordinary  government  schools;  but 
surely  there  can  be  no  objection  to  reading  a  chapter  in  the 
Bible  in  English,  or  in  Dakota  if  English  could  not  be  under 
stood,  at  the  daily  opening  of  those  schools,  as  is  done  in  very 
many  other  well-regulated  secular  schools.     It   may  be,  too, 
that  the  use  of  words  in  the  vernacular  may  be  sometimes  nec 
essary  to  aid  in  communicating  a  knowledge  of  the  English 
language;   but  the  use  of  the  vernacular  should  not  be  encour 
aged  or  continued  beyond  the  limit  of  such  necessity;  and  the 
"text-books,"  the  "oral  instruction"  in  a  general  sense,  and 
the  "curriculum"  certainly  should  be  in  English.     In  mission 
ary  schools  moral  and  religious  instruction  may  be  given  in  the 
vernacular    as    an    auxiliary     to    English    in    conveying   such 
instruction.      Here,  while  the  desirability  of  some  instruction 
in  morals  and    religion   is    recognized,  the  extreme    value  of 
learning  the  English  language  is  not  lost  sight  of.     And  the 
provision  which  follows,  that  only  native  teachers  shall  "other 
wise"— that   is,   except  for   moral    or    religious    instruction- 
teach  the  vernacular,  and  only^in  remote  places  and  until  gov 
ernment  or  contract  schools  are  established,  is  in  exact  keeping 
with  the   purpose  of  the  government  to   exclude   the    Indian 
languages  from  the  schools  so   far  as  is   consistent  with  a  due 
regard  for  the  continuance  of  moral  and  religious  teaching  in 
the  missionary  schools,  and  except  in  such  cases  as  the  exclu 
sion  would  result   in  the   entire    neglect   of  secular  for  other 
instruction. 

Provision  is  made  in  the  rules  for  the  theological  training  of 
young  men  in  missionary  schools  to  fit  them  as  Indian  preach 
ers,  and  the  possession  and  use  of  the  Bible,  so  far  as  they  do 
not  interfere  with  the  secular  English  teaching  insisted  upon, 
are  especially  secured. 


THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM.  4'9 

I  cannot  believe  that  these  rules  of  the  Indian  Bureau  were 
at  hand  when  the  resolutions  before  me  were  adopted.  If 
they  were  I  think  they  were  strangely  misunderstood,  though 
the  mild  admission  that  "there  are  advantages  in  teaching 
English  to  the  Indians"  indicates  that  there  is  a  wide  differ 
ence  between  those  who  appear  cautiously  to  make  such  an 
admission  and  the  many  others  interested  in  Indkm  improve 
ment  who  deem  such  teaching  the  paramount  object  of  imme 
diate  effort. 

The  rules  referred  to  have  been  modified  and  changed  in 
their  phraseology,  to  meet  the  views  of  good  men  who  seek  to  aid 
the  government  in  its  benevolent  intentions,  until  it  was  sup 
posed  their  meaning  was  quite  plain  and  their  purpose  satis 
factory.  There  need  be  no  fear  that  in  their  execution  they  will 
at  all  interfere  with  the  plans  of  those  who  sensibly  desire  the 
improvement  and  welfare  of  the  Indians.  At  any  rate,  until 
it  is  demonstrated  that  these  rules  operate  as  impediments  to 
Indian  advancement  they  will  be  adhered  to,  while  the  govern 
ment  will  continue  to  invoke  the  assistance  of  all  Christian 
people  and  organizations  in  this  very  important  and  interesting 
part  of  labor  intrusted  to  it. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


IV. 
From  the   Fourth   Annual  Message,  December,   1888. 

The  condition  of  our  Indian  population  continues  to 
improve,  and  the  proofs  multiply  that  the  transforming  change, 
so  much  to  be  desired,  which  shall  substitute  for  barbarism 
enlightenment  and  civilizing  education,  is  in  favorable  prog 
ress.  Our  relations  with  these  people  during  the  year  have 
been  disturbed  by  no  serious  disorders,  but  rather  marked  by 
a  better  realization  of  their  true  interests,  and  increasing  con 
fidence  and  good-will.  These  conditions  testify  to  the  value 


420  77//i  INDIAN  PROBLEM. 

of  the  higher  tone  of  consideratio'n  and  humanity  which  has 
governed  the  later  methods  of  dealing  with  them,  and  com 
mend  its  continued  observance. 

Allotments  in  several  ty  have  been  made  on  some  reserva 
tions  until  all  those  entitled  to  land  thereon  have  had  their 
shares  assigned,  and  the  work  is  still  continued.  In  directing 
the  execution  of  this  duty  I  have  not  aimed  so  much  at  rapid 
dispatch  as  to  secure  just  and  fair  arrangements  which  shall 
best  conduce  to  the  objects  of  the  law,  by  producing  satisfac 
tion  with  the  results  of  the  allotments  made.  No  measure  of 
general  effect  has  ever  been  entered  on  from  which  more  may 
be  fairly  hoped,  if  it  shall  be  discreetly  administered.  It 
proffers  opportunity  and  inducement  to  that  independence  of 
spirit  and  life  which  the  Indian  peculiarly  needs,  while  at 
the  same  time  the  inalienability  of  title  affords  security  against 
the  risks  his  inexperience  of  affairs  or  weakness  of  character 
may  expose  him  to  in  dealing  with  others.  Whenever  begun 
upon  any  reservation  it  should  be  made  complete,  so  that  all 
are  brought  to  the  same  condition,  and,  as  soon  as  possible, 
community  in  lands  should  cease  by  opening  such  as  remain 
unallotted  to  settlement.  Contact  with  the  ways  of  industrious 
and  successful  farmers  will,  perhaps,  add  a  healthy  emulation 
which  will  both  instruct  and  stimulate. 

But  no  agency  for  the  amelioration  of  this  people  appears  to 
me  so  promising  as  the  extension,  urged  by  the  Secretary,  of 
such  complete  facilities  of  education  as  shall,  at  the  earliest 
possible  day,  embrace  the  teachable  Indian  youth,  of  both 
sexes,  and  retain  them  with  a  kindly  and  beneficent  hold  until 
their  characters  are  formed  and  their  faculties  and  dispositions 
trained  to  the  sure  pursuit  of  some  form  of  useful  industry. 
Capacity  of  the  Indian  no  longer  needs  demonstration.  It  is 
established.  It  remains  to  make  the  most  of  it,  and  when 
that  shall  be  done  the  curse  will  be  lifted,  the  Indian  race 
saved,  and  the  sin  of  their  oppression  redeemed.  The  time  of 
its  accomplishment  depends  upon  the  spirit  and  justice  with 


THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM.  421 

which  it  shall  be  prosecuted.  It  cannot  be  too  soon  for  the 
Indian,  nor  for  the  interests  and  good  name  of  the  nation. 

The  average  attendance  of  Indian  pupils  on  the  schools 
increased  by  over  900  during  the  year,  and  the  total  enrollment 
reached  15,212.  The  cost  of  maintenance  was  not  materially 
raised.  The  number  of  teachable  Indian  youth  is  now  esti 
mated  at  40,000,  or  nearly  three  times  the  enrollment  of  the 
schools.  It  is  believed  that  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  instruct 
ing  are  all  surmountable,  and  that  the  necessary  expenditure 
would  be  a  measure  of  economy. 

The  Sioux  tribes  on  the  great  reservation  of  Dakota  refused 
to  assent  to  the  act  passed  by  the  Congress  at  its  last  session 
for  opening  a  portion  of  their  lands  to  settlement,  notwith 
standing  modification  of  the  terms  was  suggested  which  met 
most  of  their  objections.  Their  demand  is  for  immediate  pay 
ment  of  the  full  price  of  $1.25  per  acre  for  the  entire  body  of 
land  the  occupancy  of  which  they  are  asked  to  relinquish. 

The  manner  of  submission  insured  their  fair  understanding 
of  the  law,  and  their  action  was  undoubtedly  as  thoroughly 
intelligent  as  their  capacity  admitted.  It  is  at  least  gratifying 
that  no  reproach  of  overreaching  can  in  any  manner  lie  against 
the  government,  however  advisable  the  favorable  completion 
of  the  negotiation  may  have  been  esteemed. 

I  concur  in  the  suggestions  of  the  Secretary  regarding  the 
Turtle  Mountain  Indians,  the  two  reservations  in  California, 
and  the  Crees.  They  should,  in  my  opinion,  receive  immediate 
attention. 

The  Apache  Indians,  whose  removal  from  their  reservation 
in  Arizona  followed  the  capture  of  those  of  their  number  who 
engaged  in  a  bloody  and  murderous  raid  during  a  part  of  the 
years  1885  and  1886,  are  now  held  as  prisoners  of  war  at 
Mount  Vernon  barracks,  in  the  State  of  Alabama.  They 
numbered,  on  the  3151  day  of  October,  the  date  of  the  last  re 
port,  83  men,  1 70  women,  70  boys,  and  59  girls,  in  all  382  persons. 
The  commanding  officer  states  that  they  are  in  good  health 


422  THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM. 

and  contented,  and  that  they  are  kept  employed  as  fully  as  is 
possible  in  the  circumstances.  The  children,  as  they  arrive 
at  a  suitable  age,  are  sent  to  the  Indian  schools  at  Carlisle 
and  Hampton.  Last  summer  some  charitable  and  kind  peo 
ple  asked  permission  to  send  two  teachers  to  these  Indians,  for 
the  purpose  of  instructing  the  adults  as  well  as  such  children 
as  should  be  found  there.  Such  permission  was  readily 
granted,  accommodations  were  provided  for  the  teachers,  and 
some  portions  of  the  buildings  at  the  barracks  were  made 
available  for  school  purposes.  The  good  work  contemplated 
has  been  commenced,  and  the  teachers  engaged  are  paid  by 
the  ladies  with  whom  the  plan  originated. 

I  am  not  at  all  in  sympathy  with  those  benevolent  but  in 
judicious  people  who  are  constantly  insisting  that  these  Indians 
should  be  returned  to  their  reservation.  Their  removal  was  an 
absolute  necessity  if  the  lives  and  property  of  citizens  upon 
the  frontier  are  to  be  at  all  regarded  by  the  government. 
Their  continued  restraint,  at  a  distance  from  the  scene  of  their 
repeated  and  cruel  murders  and  outrages,  is  still  necessary.  It 
is  a  mistaken  philanthropy,  every  way  injurious,  which  prompts 
the  desire  to  see  these  savages  returned  to  theif  old  haunts. 
They  are  in  their  present  location  as  the  result  of  the  best 
judgment  of  those  having  official  responsibility  in  the  matter, 
and  who  are  by  no  means  lacking  in  kind  consideration  for 
the  Indians.  A  number  of  these  prisoners  have  forfeited  their 
lives  to  outraged  law  and  humanity.  Experience  has  proved 
that  they  are  dangerous  and  cannot  be  trusted.  This  is  true 
not  only  of  those  who,  on  the  warpath,  have  heretofore  actually 
been  guilty  of  atrocious  murder,  but  of  their  kindred  and 
friends,  who,  while  they  remained  upon  their  reservation,  fur 
nished  aid  and  comfort  to  those  absent  with  bloody  in 
tent  ? 

These  prisoners  should  be  treated  kindly  and  kept  in  re 
straint  far  from  the  locality  of  their  former  reservation  ;  they 
should  be  subjected  to  efforts  calculated  to  lead  to  their  im 
provement  and  the  softening  of  their  savage  and  cruel  instincts, 


THE  INDIAN  PROBLEM. 

but  their  return  to  their  old   home    should    be   persistently 

restricted. 

The  Secretary  in  his  report  gives  a  graphic  history  o 
Indians,  and  recites  with  painful  vividness  their  bloody  deeds 
and  the  unhappy  failure  of  the  government  to  manage  them 
by  peaceful  means.  It  will  be  amazing  if  a  perusal  of  this 
history  will  allow  the  survival  of  a  desire  for  the  return  of  these 
prisoners  to  their  reservation  upon  sentimental  or  any  other 
grounds. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE    PUBLIC    DOMAIN. 
I. 

From   the    First    Annual    Message,    December,   1885. 

THE  public  domain  had  its  origin  in  cessions  of  land  by  the 
States  to  the  general  government.  The  first  cession  was 
made  by  the  State  of  New  York,  and  the  largest,  which  in 
area  exceeded  all  the  others,  by  the  State  of  Virginia.  The 
territory,  the  proprietorship  of  which  became  thus  vested  in 
the  general  government,  extended  from  the  western  line  of 
Pennsylvania  to  the  Mississippi  River.  These  patriotic  dona 
tions  of  the  States  were  encumbered  with  no  condition,  except 
that  they  should  be  held  and  used  "for  the  common  benefit  of 
the  United  States."  By  purchase,  with  the  common  fund  of 
all  the  people,  additions  were  made  to  this  domain  until  it 
extended  to  the  northern  line  of  Mexico,  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  the  Polar  Sea.  The  original  trust,  "for  the  common 
benefit  of  the  United  States,"  attached  to  all.  In  the  execu 
tion  of  that  trust  the  policy  of  many  homes,  rather  than  large 
estates,  was  adopted  by  the  government.  That  these  might  be 
easily  obtained,  and  be  the  abode  of  security  and  contentment, 
the  laws  for  their  acquisition  were  few,  easily  understood,  and 
general  in  their  character.  But  the  pressure  of  local  interests, 
combined  with  a  speculative  spirit,  has  in  many  instances 
procured  the  passage  of  laws  which  marred  the  harmony  of 
the  general  plan,  and  encumbered  the  system  with  a  multitude 
of  general  and  special  enactments,  which  render  the  land  laws 
complicated,  subject  the  titles  to  uncertainty,  and  the  purchas 
ers  often  to  oppression  and  wrong.  Laws  which  were  intended 

424 


THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN.  4^5 

for  the  "common  benefit"  have  been  perverted  so  that  large 
quantities  of  land  are  vesting  in  single  ownerships.  From  the 
multitude  and  character  of  the  laws,  this  consequence  seems 
incapable  of  correction  by  mere  administration. 

It  is  not  for  the  "common  benefit  of  the  United  States"  that 
a  large  area  of  the  public  lands  should  be  acquired,  directly 
or  through  fraud,  in  the  hands  of  a  single  individual.  The 
nation's  strength  is  in  the  people.  The  nation's  prosperity  is 
in  their  prosperity.  The  nation's  glory  is  in  the  equality  of 
her  justice.  The  nation's  perpetuity  is  in  the  patriotism  of  all 
her  people.  Hence,  as  far  as  practicable,  the  plan  adopted  in 
the  disposal  of  the  public  lands  should  have  in  view  the  orig 
inal  policy,  which  encouraged  many  purchasers  of  these  lands 
for  homes  and  discouraged  the  massing  of  large  areas.  Exclu 
sive  of  Alaska,  about  three-fifths  of  the  national  domain  have 
been  sold  or  subjected  to  contract  or  grant.  Of  the  remaining 
two-fifths  a  considerable  portion  is  either  mountain  or  desert. 
A  rapidly  increasing  population  creates  a  growing  demand  for 
homes,  and  the  accumulation  of  wealth  inspires  an  eager  com 
petition  to  obtain  the  public  land  for  speculative  purposes.  In 
the  future  this  collision  of  interests  will  be  more  marked  than 
in  the  past,  and  the  execution  of  the  nation's  trust  in  behalf  of 
our  settlers  will  be  more  difficult. 


II. 
From  the   Second  Annual  Message,  December,   1886. 

The  recommendations  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  and 
the  Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office  looking  to  the 
better  protection  of  public  lands  and  of  the  public  surveys,  the 
preservation  of  national  forests,  the  adjudication  of  grants  to 
States  and  corporations  and  of  private  land  claims,  and  the 
increased  efficiency  of  the  public-land  service,  are  commended 
to  the  attention  of  Congress.  To  secure  the  widest  distribu 
tion  of  public  lands  in  limited  quantities  among  settlers  for 


426  THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN, 

residence  and  cultivation,  and  thus  make  the  greatest  number 
of  individual  homes,  was  the  primary  object  of  the  public-land 
legislation  in  the  early  days  of  the  republic.  This  system  was 
a  simple  one.  It  commenced  with  an  admirable  scheme  of 
public  surveys,  by  which  the  humblest  citizen  could  identify 
the  tract  upon  which  he  wished  to  establish  his  home.  The 
price  of  lands  was  placed  within  the  reach  of  all  the  enterpris 
ing,  industrious,  and  honest  pioneer  citizens  of  the  country. 
It  was  soon,  however,  found  that  the  object  of  the  laws  was 
perverted,  under  the  system  of  cash  sales,  from  a  distribution 
of  land  among  the  people  to  an  accumulation  of  land  capital 
by  wealthy  and  speculative  persons.  To  check  this  tendency 
a  preference  right  of  purchase  was  given  to  settlers  on  the  land, 
a  plan  which  culminated  in  the  general  Pre-emption  Act  of  1841. 

The  foundation  of  this  system  was  actual  residence  and 
cultivation.  Twenty  years  later  the  homestead  law  was  devised 
more  surely  to  place  actual  homes  in  the  possession  of  actual 
cultivators  of  the  soil.  The  land  was  given  without  price,  the 
sole  conditions  being  residence,  improvement,  and  cultivation. 
Other  laws  have  followed,  each  designed  to  encourage  the 
acquirement  and  use  of  land  in  limited  individual  quantities. 
But  in  later  years  these  laws,  through  vicious  administrative 
methods  and  under  changed  conditions  of  communication  and 
transportation,  have  been  so  evaded  and  violated  that  their 
beneficent  purpose  is  threatened  with  entire  defeat.  The 
methods  of  such  evasions  and  violations  are  set  forth  in  detail 
in  the  reports  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  and  Commissioner 
of  the  General  Land  Office.  The  rapid  appropriation  of  our 
public  lands  without  bona  fide  settlement  or  cultivation,  and 
not  only  without  intention  of  residence,  but  for  the  purpose 
of  their  aggregation  in  large  holdings,  in  many  cases  in  the 
hands  of  foreigners,  invites  the  serious  and  immediate  attention 
of  Congress. 

The  energies  of  the  land  department  have  been  devoted, 
during  the  present  administration,  to  remedy  defects  and  cor 
rect  abuses  in  the  public-land  service.  The  results  of  these 


THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN-.  427 

efforts  are  so  largely  in  the  nature  of  reforms  in  the  processes 
and  methods  of  our  land  system  as  to  prevent  adequate  esti 
mate;  but  it  appears,  by  a  compilation  from  the  reports  of  the 
Commissioner  of  the  General  Land  Office,  that  the  immediate 
effect  in  leading  cases,  which  have  come  to  a  final  termination, 
has  been  the  restoration  to  the  mass  of  public  lands  of 
2,750,000  acres;  that  2,370,000  acres  are  embraced  in  investi 
gations  now  pending  before  the  Departments  or  the  courts,  and 
that  the  action  of  Congress  has  been  asked  to  effect  the  res 
toration  of  2,790,000  acres  additional;  besides  which  four 
million  acres  have  been  withheld  from  reservation,  and  the 
rights  of  entry  thereon  maintained. 

I  recommend  the  repeal  of  the  Pre-emption  and  Timber- 
culture  Acts,  and  that  the  homestead  laws  be  so  amended  as 
better  to  secure  compliance  with  their  requirements  of  resi 
dence,  improvement,  and  cultivation  for  the  period  of  five  years 
from  date  of  entry,  without  commutation  or  provision  for 
speculative  relinquishment.  I  also  recommend  the  repeal  of 
the  desert-land  laws  unless  it  shall  be  the  pleasure  of  the  Con 
gress  so  to  amend  these  laws  as  to  render  them  less  liable  to 
abuses.  As  the  chief  motive  for  an  evasion  of  the  laws,  and 
the  principal  cause  of  their  result  in  land  accumulation  instead 
of  land  distribution,  is  the  facility  with  which  transfers  are 
made  of  the  right  intended  to  be  secured  to  settlers,  it  may  be 
deemed  advisable  to  provide  by  legislation  some  guards  and 
checks  upon  the  alienation  of  homestead  rights  and  lands  cov 
ered  thereby  until  patents  issue. 


III. 

The  Rights  of  Settlers. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  April  25,  1887. 
To  THE  SECRETARY  OF  THE  INTERIOR: 

DEAR  SIR:      I  have  examined  with  much   care  and  interest 
the  questions    involved   in  the  conflicting  claims  of  Guilford 


428  THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN. 

Miller  and  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Company  to  certain 
public  land  in  Washington  Territory.  The  legal  aspects  of 
the  case  have  been  examined  and  passed  upon  by  several  offi 
cers  of  the  government,  who  do  not  agree  in  their  conclu 
sions. 

Miller  claims  to  be  a  settler  upon  the  land  in  question, 
whose  possession  dates  from  1878.  He  alleges  that  he  has 
made  substantial  improvements  upon  this  land  and  cultivated 
the  same,  and  it  appears  that  he  filed  his  claim  to  the  same, 
under  the  homestead  law,  on  the  29th  day  of  December,  1884. 

The  railroad  company  contends  that  this  land  is  within  the 
territory  or  area  from  which  it  was  entitled  to  select  such  a 
quantity  of  public  land  as  might  be  necessary  to  supply  any 
deficiency  that  should  be  found  to  exist  in  the  specific  land 
mentioned  in  a  grant  by  the  government  to  said  company  in 
aid  of  the  construction  of  its  road,  such  deficiency  being  con 
templated  as  likely  to  arise  from  the  paramount  right  of  private 
parties  and  settlers  within  the  territory  embracing  said  granted 
lands,  and  that  the  land  in  dispute  was  thus  selected  by  the 
company  on  the  i9th  day  of  December,  1883. 

A  large  tract,  including  this  land,  was  withdrawn,  by  an 
order  of  the  Interior  Department,  from  sale  and  from  pre 
emption  and  homestead  entry  in  1872,  in  anticipation  of  the 
construction  of  said  railroad  and  a  deficiency  in  its  granted 
lands.  In  1880,  upon  the  filing  of  a  map  of  definite  location 
of  the  road,  the  land  in  controversy,  and  much  more  which 
had  been  so  withdrawn,  was  found  to  lie  outside  of  the  limits 
which  included  the  granted  land  ;  but  its  withdrawal  and  reser 
vation  from  settlement  and  entry  under  our  land  laws  was 
continued  upon  the  theory  that  it  was  within  the  limits  of 
indemnity  lands  which  might  be  selected  by  the  company,  as 
provided  in  the  law  making  the  grant. 

The  legal  points  in  this  controversy  turned  upon  the  validity 
and  effect  of  the  withdrawal  and  reservation  of  this  land  and 
the  continuance  thereof.  The  Attorney-General  is  of  the 
opinion  that  such  withdrawal  and  reservation  were  at  all  times 


THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN.  429 

effectual,  and  that  they  operated  to  prevent  Miller  from  ac 
quiring  any  interest  in  or  right  to  the  land  claimed  by 
him. 

With  this  interpretation  of  the  law  and  the  former  orders 
and  action  of  the  Interior  Department,  it  will  be  seen  that  their 
effect  has  been  the  withdrawal  and  reservation  since  1872  of 
thousands,  if  not  millions,  of  acres  of  these  lands  from  the 
operation  of  the  land  laws  of  the  United  States,  thus  placing 
them  beyond  the  reach  of  our  citizens  desiring  under  such  laws 
to  settle  and  make  homes  upon  the  same,  and  that  this  has 
been  done  for  the  benefit  of  a  railroad  company  having  no 
fixed,  certain,  or  definite  interests  in  such  lands.  In  this 
manner  the  beneficent  policy  and  intention  of  the  government 
in  relation  to  the  public  domain  have  for  all  these  years  to  that 
extent  been  thwarted. 

There  seems  to  be  no  evidence  presented  showing  how 
much,  if  any,  of  this  vast  tract  is  necessary  for  the  fulfillment 
of  the  grant  to  the  railroad  company,  nor  does  there  appear  to 
be  any  limitation  of  the  time  within  which  this  fact  should  be 
made  known  and  the  corporation  obliged  to  make  its  selection. 
After  a  lapse  of  fifteen  years  this  large  body  of  the  public 
domain  is  still  held  in  reserve,  to  the  exclusion  of  settlers,  for 
the  convenience  of  a  corporate  beneficiary  of  the  government, 
and  awaiting  its  selection,  though  it  is  entirely  certain  that 
much  of  this  reserved  land  can  never  be  honestly  claimed  by 
such  corporation. 

Such  a  condition  of  the  public  lands  should  no  longer  con 
tinue.  So  far  as  it  is  the  result  of  executive  rules  and  meth 
ods,  these  should  be  abandoned,  and  so  far  as  it  is  a  conse 
quence  of  improvident  laws,  these  should  be  repealed  or 
amended. 

Our  public  domain  is  our  national  wealth,  the  earnest  of  our 
growth  and  the  heritage  of  our  people.  It  should  promise 
limitless  development  and  riches,  relief  to  a  crowding  popula 
tion,  and  homes  to  thrift  and  industry. 

These  inestimable  advantages  should  be  jealously  guarded, 


43°  THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN. 

and  a  careful  and  enlightened  policy  on  the  part  of  the  govern 
ment  should  secure  them  to  the  people. 

In  the  case  under  consideration  I  assume  that  there  is  an 
abundance  of  land  within  the  area  which  has  been  reserved  for 
indemnity,  in  which  no  citizen  or  settler  has  a  legal  or  equita 
ble  interest,  for  all  purposes  of  such  indemnification  to  this 
railroad  company,  if  its  grant  has  not  already  been  satisfied. 
I  understand,  too,  that  selections  made  by  such  corporation 
are  not  complete  and  effectual  until  the  same  have  been 
approved  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  or  unless  they  are 
made,  in  the  words  of  the  statute,  under  his  direction. 

You  have  thus  far  taken  no  action  in  this  matter,  and  it 
seems  to  me  that  you  are  in  a  condition  to  deal  with  the  sub 
ject  in  such  a  manner  as  to  protect  this  settler  from  hardship 
and  loss. 

I  transmit  herewith  the  papers  and  documents  relating  to  the 
case,  which  were  submitted  to  me  at  my  request. 

I  suggest  that  you  exercise  the  power  and  authority  you  have 
in  the  premises,  upon  equitable  considerations,  with  every 
presumption  and  intendment  in  favor  of  the  settler;  and  in 
case  you  find  this  corporation  is  entitled  to  select  any  more  of 
these  lands  than  it  has  already  acquired,  that  you  direct  it  to 
select,  in  lieu  of  the  land  upon  which  Mr.  Miller  has  settled, 
other  land  within  the  limits  of  this  indemnity  reservation,  upon 
which  neither  he  nor  any  other  citizen  has  in  good  faith  settled 
or  made  improvements. 

I  call  your  attention  to  sections  2450  and  2451  of  the 
Revised  Statutes  of  the  United  States,  as  pointing  out  a  mode 
of  procedure  which  may,  perhaps,  be  resorted  to,  if  necessary, 
for  the  purpose  of  reaching  a  just  and  equitable  disposition  of 
the  case. 

The  suggestions  herein  contained  can,  I  believe,  be  adopted 
without  disregarding  or  calling  in  question  the  opinion  of  the 
Attorney-General  upon  the  purely  legal  propositions  which  were 
submitted  to  him. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


THE  PUBLIC  DOMAIN.  431 

IV. 
From   the  Fourth    Annual  Message,  December,   1888. 

1  cannot  too  strenuously  insist  upon  the  importance  of 
proper  measures  to  insure  a  right  disposition  of  our  public 
lands,  not  only  as  a  matter  of  present  justice,  but  in  forecast 
of  the  consequences  to  future  generations.  The  broad  rich 
acres  of  our  agricultural  plains  have  been  long  preserved  by 
nature  to  become  her  untrammeled  gift  to  a  people  civilized 
and  free,  upon  which  should  rest,  in  well-distributed  owner 
ship,  the  numerous  homes  of  enlightened,  equal,  and  frater 
nal  citizens.  They  came  to  national  possession  with  the 
warning  example  in  our  eyes  of  the  entail  of  iniquities  in 
landed  proprietorship  which  other  countries  have  permitted 
and  still  suffer.  We  have  no  excuse  for  the  violation  of  prin 
ciples,  cogently  taught  by  reason  and  example,  nor  for  the 
allowance  of  pretexts  which  have  sometimes  exposed  our  lands 
to  colossal  greed.  Laws  which  open  a  door  to  fraudulent 
acquisition,  or  administration  which  permits  favor  to  rapacious 
seizure  by  a  favored  few  of  expanded  areas  that  many  should 
enjoy,  are  accessory  to  offenses  against  our  national  welfare 
and  humanity,  not  to  be  too  severely  condemned  or  punished. 

It  is  gratifying  to  know  that  something  has  been  done  at  last 
to  redress  the  injuries  to  our  people  and  check  the  perilous 
tendency  of  the  reckless  waste  of  the  national  domain.  That 
over  eighty  million  acres  have  been  arrested  from  illegal 
usurpation,  improvident  grants,  and  fraudulent  entries  and 
claims,  to  be  taken  for  the  homesteads  of  honest  industry— 
although  less  than  the  greater  areas  thus  unjustly  lost — must 
afford  a  profound  gratification  to  right-feeling  citizens  as  it  is  a 
recompense  for  the  labors  and  struggles  of  the  recovery.  Our 
dear  experience  ought  sufficiently  to  urge  the  speedy  enact 
ment  of  measures  of  legislation  which  will  confine  the  future 
disposition  of  our  remaining  agricultural  lands  to  the  uses  of 
actual  husbandry  and  genuine  homes. 

Nor  should  our  vast  tracts  of  so-called  desert  lands  be 
yielded  up  to  the  monopoly  of  corporations  or  grasping  indi- 


432  THE   PUBLIC  DOMAIN. 

viduals,  as  appears  to  be  much  the  tendency  under  the  existing 
statute.  These  lands  require  but  the  supply  of  water  to 
become  fertile  and  productive.  It  is  a  problem  of  great 
moment  how  most  wisely  for  the  public  good  that  factor  shall 
be  furnished.  I  cannot  but  think  it  perilous  to  suffer  either 
these  lands  or  the  sources  of  their  irrigation  to  fall  into  the 
hands  of  monopolies,  which,  by  such  means,  may  exercise  lord 
ship  over  the  ^ireas  dependent  on  their  treatment  for  pro 
ductiveness.  Already  steps  have  been  taken  to  secure  accu 
rate  and  scientific  information  of  the  conditions,  which  are  the 
prime  basis  of  intelligent  action.  Until  this  shall  be  gained, 
the  course  of  wisdom  appears  clearly  to  lie  in  a  suspension  of 
further  disposal,  which  only  promises  to  create  rights  antago 
nistic  to  the  common  interest.  No  -harm  can  follow  this 
cautionary  conduct.  The  land  will  remain,  and  the  public 
good  presents  no  demand  for  hasty  dispossession  of  national 
ownership  and  control. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

SOME    NOTABLE    VETOES. 


Of  an  Appropriation  for  Celebrating  Decoration  Day* 

BUFFALO,  May  8,  1882. 
To  THE  COMMON  COUNCIL  : 

AT  the  last  session  of  your  honorable  body  a  resolution  was 
adopted  directing  the  city  clerk  to  draw  a  warrant  for  five  hun 
dred  dollars  in  the  favor  of  the  Firemen's  Benevolent  Associa 
tion. 

This  action  is  not  only  clearly  unauthorized,  but  it  is  dis 
tinctly  prohibited  by  the  following  clause  of  the  State  Con 
stitution  : 

No  county,  city,  town  or  village  shall  hereafter  give  any  money  or  prop 
erty,  or  loan  its  money  or  credit  to,  or  in  aid  of  any  individual,  association 
or  corporation,  or  become  directly  or  indirectly  the  owner  of  stock  in  or  bonds 
of  any  association  or  corporation  ;  nor  shall  any  such  county,  city,  town,  or 


*  While  the  ordinance  making  this  appropriation  was  still  pending  Mr. 
Cleveland  wrote  the  following  letter  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  hav 
ing  the  matter  in  charge  : 

BUFFALO,  May    7,  1882. 
JOHN  M.  FARQUHAR,  ESQ. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  have  tried  very  hard,  but  failed  to  find  a  way,  consistently  to 
approve  the  resolution  of  the  Common  Council  appropriating  $500  for  the 
observance  of  Decoration  day. 

If  my  action  has  the  effect  of  stopping  the  payment  of  this  sum  for  the 
purpose,  and  you  attempt  to  raise  the  necessary  sum  by  subscription,  you 
may  call  on  me  for  $50. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

433 


434  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

village  be  allowed  to  incur  any  indebtedness,  except  for  county,  city,  town,  or 
village  purposes. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  your  honorable  body  the  following 
resolution  was  passed  : 

That  the  City  Clerk  be  and  is  hereby  directed  to  draw  a  warrant  on  the 
Fourth  of  July  Fund  for  five  hundred  dollars,  to  the  order  of  J.  S.  Edwards, 
Chairman  of  the  Decoration  Uay  Committee  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Repub 
lic,  for  the  purpose  of  defraying  the  expenses  attending  a  proper  observance 
of  Decoration  day. 

I  have  taxed  my  ingenuity  to  discover  a  way  consistently  to 
approve  of  this  resolution,  but  have  been  unable  to  do  so. 

It  seems  to  me  that  it  is  not  only  obnoxious  to  the  provisions 
of  the  Constitution  above  quoted,  but  that  it  also  violates  that 
section  of  the  charter  of  the  city  which  makes  it  a  misdemeanor 
to  appropriate  money  raised  for  one  purpose  to  any  other  ob 
ject.  Under  this  section  I  think  money  raised  "for  the  cele 
bration  of  the  Fourth  of  July,  and  the  reception  of  distinguished 
persons,"  cannot  be  devoted  to  the  observance  of  Decoration 
day. 

I  deem  the  object  of  this  appropriation  a  most  worthy  one. 
The  efforts  of  our  veteran  soldiers  to  keep  alive  the  memory  of 
their  fallen  comrades  certainly  deserve  the  aid  and  encourage 
ment  of  their  fellow-citizens.  We  should  all,  I  think,  feel  it  a 
duty  and  a  privilege  to  contribute  to  the  funds  necessary  to 
carry  out  such  a  purpose.  And  I  should  be  much  disappointed 
if  an  appeal  to  our  citizens  for  voluntary  subscription  for  this 
patriotic  object  should  be  in  vain. 

But  the  money  so  contributed  should  be  a  free  gift  of  the 
citizens  and  taxpayers,  and  should  not  be  extorted  from  them 
by  taxation.  This  is  so,,  because  the  purpose  for  which  this 
money  is  asked  does  not  involve  their  protection  or  interest  as 
members  of  the  community,  and  it  may  or  may  not  be  approved 
by  them. 

The  people  are  forced  to  pay  taxes  into  the  city  treasury 
only  upon  the  theory  that  such  money  shall  be  expended  for 


SOME  NOTABLE    VETOES.  435 

public  purposes,  or  purposes  in  which  they  all  have  a  direct 
and  practical  interest. 

The  logic  of  this  position  leads  directly  to  the  conclusion 
that,  if  the  people  are  forced  to  pay  their  money  into  the  pub 
lic  fund  and  it  is  spent  by  their  servants  and  agents  for  purposes 
in  which  the  people  as  taxpayers  have  no  interest,  the  exaction 
of  such  taxes  from  them  is  oppressive  and  unjust 

1  cannot  rid  myself  of  the  idea  that  this  city  government,  in 
its  relation  to  the  taxpayers,  is  a  business  establishment,  and 
that  it  is  put  into  our  hands  to  be  conducted  on  business  prin 
ciples. 

This  theory  does  not  admit  of  our  donating  the  public  funds 
in  the  manner  contemplated  by  the  action  of  your  honorable 
body. 

1  deem  it  my  duty,  therefore,  to  return  both  the  resolutions 
referred  to  without  my  approval. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


II. 

Of  a  Street  Cleaning  Contract,  as  Mayor  of  Buffalo, 
June  26,  1882. 

To  THE  COMMON  COUNCIL  : 

I  return  without  my  approval  the  resolution  of  your  honor 
able  body,  passed  at  its  last  meeting,  awarding  the  contract 
for  cleaning  the  paved  streets  and  alleys  of  the  city  for  the 
ensuing  five  years  to  George  Talbot  at  his  bid  of  four  hundred 
and  twenty-two  thousand  and  five  hundred  dollars. 

The  bid  thus  accepted  by  your  honorable  body  is  more  than 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars  higher  than  that  of  another  per 
fectly  responsible  party  for  the  same  work  ;  and  a  worse  and 
more  suspicious  feature  in  this  transaction  is  that  the  bid  now 
accepted  is  fifty  thousand  dollars  more  than  that  made  by 
Talbot  himself  within  a  very  few  weeks,  openly  and  publicly, 
to  your  honorable  body,  for  performing  precisely  the  same 
services.  This  latter  circumstance  is  to  my  mind  the  manifes- 


436  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

tation  on  the  part  of  the  contractor  of  a  reliance  upon  the 
forbearance  and  generosity  of  your  honorable  body,  which 
would  be  more  creditable  if  it  were  less  expensive  to  the  tax 
payers. 

I  am  not  aware  that  any  excuse  is  offered  for  the  acceptance 
of  this  proposal,  thus  increased,  except  the  very  flimsy  one 
that  the  lower  bidders  cannot  afford  to  do  the  work  for  the 
sums  they  name. 

This  extreme  tenderness  and  consideration  for  those  who 
desire  to  contract  with  the  city,  and  this  touching  and  paternal 
solicitude  lest  they  should  be  improvidently  led  into  a  bad 
bargain  is,  I  am  sure,  an  exception  to  general  business  rules, 
and  seems  to  have  no  place  in  this  selfish,  sordid  world,  except 
as  found  in  the  administration  of  municipal  affairs. 

The  charter  of  your  city  requires  that  the  Mayor,  when  he 
disapproves  any  resolution  of  your  honorable  body,  shall  return 
the  same  with  his  objections. 

This  is  a  time  for  plain  speech,  and  my  objection  to  the 
action  of  your  honorable  body  now  under  consideration  shall 
be  plainly  stated.  1  withhold  my  assent  from  the  same, 
because  I  regard  it  as  the  culmination  of  a  most  barefaced, 
impudent,  and  shameless  scheme  to  betray  the  interests  of  the 
people  and  worse  than  to  squander  the  public  money. 

I  will  not  be  misunderstood  in  this  matter.  There  are 
those  whose  votes  were  given  for  this  resolution  whom  I 
cannot  and  will  not  suspect  of  a  willful  neglect  of  the  interests 
they  are  sworn  to  protect ;  but  it  has  been  fully  demon 
strated  that  there  are  influences,  both  in  and  about  your 
honorable  body,  which  it  behooves  every  honest  man  to 
watch  and  avoid  with  the  greatest  care. 

When  cool  judgment  rules  the  hour,  the  people  will,  I  hope 
and  believe,  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  the  action  of  your 
honorable  body.  But  clumsy  appeals  to  prejudice  or  passion, 
insinuations,  with  a  kind  of  a  low,  cheap  cunning,  as  to  the 
motives  and  purposes  of  others,  and  the  mock  heroism  of  brazen 
effrontery,  which  openly  declare  that  a  wholesome  public  senti- 


SOME  NOTABLE    VETOES.  437 

ment  is  to  be  set  at  naught,  sometimes  deceive  and  lead  honest 
men  to  aid  in  the  consummation  of  schemes  which,  if  exposed, 
they  would  look  upon  with  abhorrence. 

If  the  scandal  in  connection  with  this  street  cleaning  con 
tract,  which  has  so  aroused  our  citizens,  shall  cause  them  to 
select  and  watch  with  more  care  those  to  whom  they  intrust 
their  interests,  and  if  it  serves  to  r*ake  all  of  us  who  are 
charged  with  official  duties  more  careful  in  their  performance, 
it  will  not  be  an  unmitigated  evil. 

We  are  fast  gaining  positions  in  the  grades  of  public  stew 
ardships.  There  is  no  middle  ground.  Those  who  are  not 
for  the  people  either  in  or  out  of  your  honorable  body  are 
against  them  and  should  be  treated  accordingly. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND, 

Mayor. 

III. 

Of  a  Bill  for  the  Purchase  of  Land  by  the  Supervisors  of 
Chautauqua  County. 

EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER, 
ALBANY,  February  12,  1883. 
To  THE  ASSEMBLY  : 

Assembly  bill  No.  88,  entitled  "  An  Act  authorizing  the 
Board  of  Supervisors  of  Chautauqua  County  to  appropriate 
money  for  the  purchase  "  of  land  upon  which  to  erect  a  soldiers' 
and  sailors'  monument,  is  herewith  returned  without  approval. 

It  is  not  an  agreeable  duty  to  refuse  to  give  sanction  to  the 
appropriation  of  money  for  such  a  worthy  and  patriotic  object ; 
but  I  cannot  forget  that  the  money  proposed  to  be  appropri 
ated  is  public  money  to  be  raised  by  taxation,  and  that  all  that 
justifies  its  exaction  from  tlie  people  is  the  necessity  of  its  use 
for  purposes  connected  with  the  safety  and  substantial  welfare 
of  the  taxpayers. 

The  application  of  this  principle  furnishes,  I  think,  a  suffi 
cient  reason  why  this  bill  should  not  be  approved. 


43  &  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

I  am  of  the  opinion,  too,  that  the  appropriation  of  this 
money  by  the  Board  of  Supervisors  would  constitute  the  in 
curring  of  an  indebtedness  by  the  county  to  be  thereafter  met 
by  taxation.  If  this  be  true,  the  proposed  legislation  is  for 
bidden  by  section  eleven  of  article  eight  of  the  Constitution, 
which  provides  that  no  county,  city,  town,  or  village  shall  be 
allowed  to  incur  any  indebtedness  except  for  county,  city, 
town,  or  village  purposes. 

Before  this  prohibition  became  a  part  of  the  Constitution,  a 
statute  was  passed  permitting  monuments  to  be  erected  to 
fallen  soldiers  at  the  expense  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  county 
within  which  they  were  located  ;  but  the  expenditure  of  money 
raised  by  taxation  for  such  a  purpose  was  only  allowed  when 
especially  sanctioned  by  the  vote  of  a  majority  of  all  the 
electors  of  the  county.  In  the  bill  under  consideration  the 
taxpayers  are  not  permitted  to  be  heard  on  the  subject. 

It  is  thus  evident  that  the  legislation  proposed  guards  less 
the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people  than  the  statute  passed 
before  the  Constitutional  amendment  prohibited  all  enactments 
of  this  description. 

I  may,  perhaps,  be  permitted  to  express  the  hope  that  a  due 
regard  to  fundamental  principles,  and  a  strict  adherence  to  the 
letter  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  which  furnish  the  limit  as 
well  as  the  guide  to  legislation,  will  prevent  the  passage  of 
bills  of  this  nature  in  the  future. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

IV. 

Of  the  Elevated  Railroad  Five  Cent  Fare  Bill. 
EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER, 

ALBANY,  March  2,  1883. 
To  THE  ASSEMBLY  : 

Assembly  bill  No.  58,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  regulate  the  fare 
to  be  charged  and  collected  by  persons  or  corporations  operat 
ing  elevated  railroads  in  the  city  of  New  York,"  is  herewith 
returned  without  approval. 


SOME  NOTABLE    VETOES.  439 

This  bill  prohibits  the  collection  or  receipt  of  more  than  five 
cents  fare  on  any  elevated  railroad  in  the  city  of  New  York, 
for  any  distance  between  the  Battery  and  Harlem  River,  and 
provides  that,  if  any  person  or  corporation  operating  such 
elevated  railroads  shall  charge,  demand,  collect  or  receive  any 
higher  rate  of  fare,  such  person  or  corporation  shall,  in  addi 
tion  to  all  other  penalties  imposed  by  law,  forfeit  and  pay  to 
any  person  aggrieved  fifty  dollars  for  each  offense,  to  be  re 
covered  by  such  person  in  any  court  of  competent  jurisdiction. 

The  importance  of  this  measure  and  the  interest  which  it 
has  excited  have  impressed  me  with  my  responsibility,  and  led 
me  to  examine,  with  as  much  care  as  has  been  possible,  the 
considerations  involved. 

I  am  convinced  that  in  all  cases  the  share  which  falls  upon 
the  Executive  regarding  the  legislation  of  the  State  should  be 
in  no  manner  evaded,  but  fairly  met  by  the  expression  of  his 
carefully  guarded  and  unbiased  judgment.  In  this  conclusion 
he  may  err,  but,  if  he  has  fairly  and  honestly  acted,  he  has  per 
formed  his  duty  and  given  to  the  people  of  the  State  his  best 
endeavor. 

The  elevated  railroads  in  the  city  of  New  York  are  now 
operated  by  the  Manhattan  Railway  Company,  as  the  lessee  of 
the  New  York  Elevated  Railway  Company  and  the  Metropolitan 
Elevated  Railway  Company. 

Of  course,  whatever  rights  the  lessee  companies  have  in  re 
lation  to  the  running  and  operation  of  their  respective  roads 
passed  to  the  Manhattan  Company  under  its  lease. 

The  New  York  Elevated  Railway  Company  is  the  successor 
of  the  West  Side  and  Yonkers  Patent  Railway  Company. 

The  latter  company  was  formed  under  and  in  pursuance  of 
an  act  passed  on  the  2oth  day  of  April,  1866. 

The  third  section  of  that  act  provides  that  companies  formed 
under  its  provisions  "  may  fix  and  collect  rates  of  fare  on  their 
respective  roads,  not  exceeding  five  cents  for  each  mile  or  any 
fraction  of  a  mile  for  each  passenger,  and  with  right  to  a  mini 
mum  fare  of  ten  cents. 


44°  SOME  NOTABLE    VETOES. 

On  the  22d  day  of  April,  1867,  an  act  was  passed  in  relation 
to  this  corporation,  which  provides  for  the  manner  of  construct 
ing  its  road,  the  eighth  section  of  which  act  reads  as  follows  : 

The  said  company  shall  be  authorized  to  demand  and  receive  from  each 
passenger  within  the  limits  of  the  city  of  New  York  rates  of  fare  not  exceed 
ing,  for  any  distance  less  than  two  miles,  five  cents  ;  for  every  mile  or  frac 
tional  part  of  a  mile  in  addition  thereto,  one  cent.  Provided  that  when  said 
railway  is  completed  and  in  operation  between  Battery  Place  and  the  vicinity 
of  Harlem  River,  the  said  company  may,  at  its  option,  adopt  a  uniform  rate  not 
exceeding  ten  cents  for  all  distances  upon  Manhattan  Island,  and  may  also 
collect  said  last  named  rate  for  a  period  of  five  years  from  and  after  the 
passage  of  this  act. 

It  was  further  provided  by  section  9  of  this  act  that  the 
said  company  should  pay  a  sum  not  exceeding  five  per  cent,  of 
the  net  income  of  said  railway  from  passenger  traffic  upon 
Manhattan  Island,  into  the  treasury  of  the  city  of  Ne\v  York, 
in  such  manner  as  the  Legislature  might  thereafter  direct,  as  a 
compensation  for  the  use  of  the  streets  of  the  city. 

In  iS68]a  law  was  passed  supplementary  to  the  act  last  re 
ferred  to,  by  which  the  said  company  was  authorized  to  adopt 
such  form  of  motor  as  certain  commissioners  should,  after  due 
experiment,  recommend  or  approve. 

Specific  provision  was  made  in  the  act  to  carry  out  section  9 
of  the  law  of  1867,  in  relation  to  the  payment  of  the  five  per 
cent,  of  the  net  income  of  the  company  into  the  treasury  of  the 
city. 

Section  3  of  this  act  contains  the  following  provision  : 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  constructing  company  aforesaid,  before  opening 
its  railway  to  public  use,  to  file  with  the  comptroller  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
in  form  to  be  approved  by  the  mayor  of  the  city  of  New  York,  its  bond  in  the 
penal  sum  of  $100,000,  conditioned  upon  the  true  and  faithful  payment  of  the 
revenue  in  amount  and  manner  specified  in  the  preceding  section  ;  and  the 
payment  thereof  shall  be  the  legal  compensation  in  full  for  the  use  and  occu 
pancy  of  the  streets  by  said  railway  as  provided  by  law,  and  shall  constitute  an 
agreement  in  the  nature  of  a  contract  between  said  city  and  constructing  com 
pany  entitling  the  latter  or  its  successors  to  the  privileges  and  rates  of  fare 
heretofore  or  herein  legalized, which  shall  not  be  changed  without  the  mutual 


SOME  NOTABLE    VETOES.  44* 

consent  of  the  parties  thereto  as  aforesaid  ;  and  the  mayor  on  behalf  of  said 
city  may,  in  case  of  default  in  payments  as  aforesaid,  sue  for  and  collect  at 
law  any  arrearages  in  such  payment,  and  the  claims  of  the  city,  therefore,  shall 
constitute  a  lien  on  the  railway  of  said  company,  having  priority  over  all 
others. 

The  use  of  what  are  called  dummy  engines  was  afterward 
authorized  in  the  operation  of  said  road  by  the  commissioners 
above  referred  to. 

The  New  York  Elevated  Railroad  Company  was  organized 
under  the  general  railroad  law  passed  in  1850,  and  the  laws 
amendatory  thereof  and  supplementary  thereto. 

Within  a  short  time  thereafter  the  last  named  company  be 
came  the  purchaser,  under  a  foreclosure  and  by  other  transfers 
of  the  railway  and  all  the  rights,  privileges,  easements  and 
franchises  of  the  West  Side  and  Yonkers  Patent  Railw.ay  Com 
pany  (the  name  of  which  had  in  the  meantime  been  changed  to 
the  West  Side  Elevated  Patented  Railway  Company  of  New 
York  City). 

We  have  now  reached  a  point  where  the  New  York  Elevated 
Railway  Company,  one  of  the  lessors  of  the  Manhattan  Rail 
road  Company,  has  succeeded  to  all  the  rights  and  prop 
erty  of  the  West  Side  and  Yonkers  Patent  Railway  Com 
pany. 

By  a  law  passed  on  the  iyth  day  of  June,  1875  (the  railway 
still  being  unfinished),  it  is  declared  that  the  New  York  Ele 
vated  Railroad  Company  having  acquired,  by  purchase,  under 
mortgage  foreclosure  and  sale  and  other  transfer,  all  the  rights, 
powers,  privileges,  and  franchises  which  were  conferred  upon 
the  West  Side  and  Yonkers  Patent  Railway  Company  by  the 
acts  above  referred  to,  is  "  hereby  confirmed  in  the  possession 
and  enjoyments  of  the  said  rights,  powers,  privileges,  and  fran 
chises  as  fully  and  as  large  as  they  were  so  granted  in  and  by 
the  acts  aforesaid  to  the  said  West  Side  and  Yonkers  Patent 
Railway  Company. 

The  Court  of  Appeals,  speaking  of  this  law,  uses  the  follow 
ing  language  : 


44 2  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

The  effect  of  this  act  was  to  secure  to  the  Elevated  Railroad  Company  all 
the  rights,  privileges,  and  franchises  of  the  West  Side  and  Yonkers  Patent 
Railway  Company  under  the  purchase  by  and  transfer  to  it. 

By  the  sixth  section  of  this  act,  it  is  provided  that  the  New 
York  Elevated  Railroad  Company  might  demand  and  receive, 
from  each  passenger  on  its  railroad,  not  exceeding  ten  cents 
for  any  distance  of  five  miles  or  less,  and  with  the  assent 
required  by  section  3  of  the  act  of  1868,  hereinbefore  referred 
to,  not  exceeding  two  cents  for  each  additional  mile  or  frac 
tional  part  thereof. 

Another  act  was  passed  in  1875,  commonly  called  the  Rapid 
Transit  Act,  which  provided  for  the  appointment  of  commis 
sioners,  who,  among  other  things,  were  authorized  to  fix  and 
determine  the  time  within  which  roads  subject  to  the  pro 
visions  of  the  act  should  be  completed,  together  with  the  max 
imum  rates  to  be  paid  for  transportation  and  conveyance  over 
said  railways,  and  the  hours  during  which  special  cars  should 
be  run  at  reduced  rates  of  fare. 

Commissioners  were  duly  appointed  by  the  mayor  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  as  provided  by  this  act,  who  fixed  and  deter 
mined  the  route  of  the  road  of  the  New  York  Elevated  Rail 
road  Company,  and  prescribed  with  the  utmost  particularity 
the  manner  of  its  construction,  and  thereupon  deliberately 
agreed  with  said  company  that  it  should  charge  as  fare  upon 
trains  and  cars  other  than  what  were  called  by  the  parties 
commission  trains  and  cars,  for  all  distances  under  five  miles 
not  to  exceed  ten  cents,  and  not  to  exceed  two  cents  for 
each  mile  or  fraction  of  a  mile  over  five  .miles,  until  the  fare 
should  amount  to  not  exceeding  fifteen  cents  for  a  through 
passenger  from  and  between  the  Battery  and  intersection  of 
Third  avenue  and  One  Hundred  and  Twenty-ninth  street,  and 
from  and  between  the  Battery  and  High  Bridge  not  to  exceed 
seventeen  cents  for  a  through  passenger,  and  that  for  the  entire 
distance  from  and  between  the  Battery  and  Fifty-ninth  street 
the  fare  should  not  exceed  ten  cents  per  passenger. 

It  was  further  agreed,  between  the  said  company  and  thecom- 


SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES.  443 

missioners,  that  commission  trains  should  be  run,  during  certain 
hours  in  the  morning  and  evening,  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  public  and  the  laboring  classes,  upon  which  the  fare  should 
not  exceed  five  cents  from  and  between  the  Battery  and  Fifty- 
ninth  street,  nor  any  greater  sum  for  any  distance  not  exceed 
ing  five  miles  ;  that  it  should  not  exceed  seven  cents  for  a 
through  passenger  from  and  between  the  Battery,  or  any  point 
south  thereof,  and  the  Harlem  River,  and  that  such  fare  should 
not  exceed  eight  cents  on  such  commission  cars  and  trains 
from  and  between  the  Battery  and  High  Bridge. 

And  it  was  further  agreed  by  said  company  that  when  the 
net  income  of  the  road,  after  all  expenditures,  taxes,  and 
charges  are  paid,  should  amount  to  a  sum  sufficient  to  pay 
exceeding  ten  per  cent,  per  annum  on  the  capital  stock  of  the 
company,  that  in  such  case  and  within  six  months  thereafter, 
and  so  long  as  said  net  earnings  amount  to  a  sum  sufficient  to 
pay  more  than  ten  per  cent,  as  aforesaid,  the  said  company 
would  run  commission  trains  on  its  road  at  all  hours  during 
which  it  should  be  operated,  at  the  rates  of  fare  last  mentioned. 

Having  thus  completed  an  agreement  with  this  company,  the 
commissioners  transmitted  the  same  to  the  mayor  of  the  City 
of  New  York,  accompanied  by  a  very  congratulatory  report  of 
their  proceedings,  whereupon  the  mayor  submitted  the  same 
to  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  by  whom  it  was  approved.  This 
was  in  the  latter  part  of  1875. 

Since  that  time  the  New  York  Elevated  Railroad  Company, 
upon  the  faith  of  the  laws  which  have  been  recited,  and  its  pro 
ceedings  with  the  commissioners,  at  a  very  large  expense,  has 
completed  its  road  from  the  Battery  to  the  Harlem  River,  a  dis 
tance  of  about  ten  miles. 

The  bill  before  me  provides  that,  notwithstanding  all  the 
statutes  that  have  been  passed  and  all  that  has  been  done  there 
under,  passengers  shall  be  carried  the  whole  length  of  this 
road  for  five  cents,  a  sum  much  less  than  is  provided  for  in 
any  of  such  statutes  or  stipulated  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
commissioners. 


444  SOME  NOTABLE    VETOES. 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that,  in  the  legislation  and  proceedings 
which  I  have  detailed,  and  in  the  fact  that  pursuant  thereto 
the  road  of  the  company  was  constructed  and  finished,  there 
exists  a  contract  in  favor  of  this  company,  which  is  protected 
by  that  clause  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  which 
prohibits  the  passage  of  a  law  by  any  State  impairing  the  obli 
gation  of  contracts. 

But  let  it  be  supposed  that  this  is  not  so,  and  that  neither  of 
these  lessor  companies  is,  in  any  way,  protected  from  inter 
ference  with  their  rates  of  fare,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  they 
are  subject  to  all  the  provisions  of  the  general  railroad  act, 
under  which  they  are  both  organized. 

Section  33  of  that  act  reads  as  follows  : 

The  legislature  may,  when  any  such  railroad  shall  be  opened  for  use, 
from  time  to  time  alter  or  reduce  the  rate  of  freight,  fare,  or  other  profits 
upon  said  road  ;  but  the  same  shall  not,  without  the  consent  of  the  company, 
be  so  reduced  as  to  produce  with  said  profits  less  than  ten  per  centum  per 
annum  on  the  capital  actually  expended  ;  nor  unless  on  an  examination  of 
the  amount  received  or  expended,  to  be  made  by  the  State  Engineer  and 
Surveyor  and  the  Comptroller,  they  shall  ascertain  that  the  net  income  de 
rived  by  the  company  from  all  sources,  for  the  year  then  last  past,  shall  have 
exceeded  an  annual  income  of  ten  per  cent,  upon  the  capital  of  the  corpora 
tion  actually  expended. 

Even  if  the  State  has  the  power  to  reduce  the  fare  on  these 
roads,  it  has  promised  not  to  do  so  except  under  certain  circum 
stances  and  after  a  certain  examination. 

1  am  not  satisfied  that  these  circumstances  exist,  and  it  is 
conceded  that  no  such  examination  has  been  made. 

The  constitutional  objections  which  I  have  suggested  to  the 
bill  under  consideration  are  not,  I  think,  removed  by  the  claim 
that  the  proposed  legislation  is  in  the  nature  of  an  alteration  of 
the  charters  of  these  companies,  and  that  this  is  permitted  by 
the  State  Constitution  and  by  the  provisions  of  some  of  the 
laws  to  which  I  have  referred. 

I  suppose  that,  while  the  charters  of  corporations  may  be 
altered  or  repealed,  it  must  be  done  in  subordination  to  the 


SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES.  445 

Constitution  of  the  United  States,  which  is  the  supreme  law  of 
the  land.  This  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  alteration  of  a 
charter  cannot  be  made  the  pretext  for  the  passage  of  a  law 
which  impairs  the  obligation  of  a  contract. 

If  I  am  mistaken  in  supposing  that  there  are  legal  objec 
tions  to  this  bill,  there  is  another  consideration  which  furnishes 
to  my  mind  a  sufficient  reason  why  I  should  not  give  it  my 
approval. 

It  seems  to  me  that  to  reduce  these  fares  arbitrarily,  at  this 
time  and  under  existing  circumstances,  involves  a  breach  of 
faith  on  the  part  of  the  State,  and  a  betrayal  of  confidence 
which  the  State  has  invited. 

The  fact  is  notorious  that,  for  many  years,  rapid  transit  was 
the  great  need  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  of  New  York,  and 
was  of  direct  importance  to  the  citizens  of  the  State.  Projects 
which  promised  to  answer  the  people's  wants  in  this  direction 
failed  and  were  abandoned.  The  Legislature,  appreciating  the 
situation,  willingly  passed  statute  after  statute  calculated  to 
aid  and  encourage  a  solution  of  the  problem.  Capital  was 
timid,  and  hesitated  to  enter  a  new  field  full  of  risks  and  dan 
gers.  By  the  promise  of  liberal  fares,  as  will  be  seen  in  all  the 
acts  passed  on  the  subject,  and  through  other  concessions  gladly 
made,  capitalists  were  induced  to  invest  their  money  in  the  en 
terprise,  and  rapid  transit  but  lately  became  an  accomplished 
fact.  But  much  of  the  risk,  expense,  and  burden  attending  the 
maintenance  of  these  roads  are  yet  unknown  and  threatening. 
In  the  meantime,  the  people  of  the  city  of  New  York  are  re 
ceiving  the  full  benefit  of  their  construction,  a  great  enhance 
ment  of  the  value  of  the  taxable  property  of  the  city  lias  re 
sulted,  and,  in  addition  to  taxes,  more  than  $120,000,  being 
five  per  cent,  in  increase,  pursuant  to  the  law  of  1868,  has  been 
paid  by  the  companies  into  the  city  treasury,  on  the  faith  that 
the  rate  of  fare  agreed  upon  was  secured  to  them.  I  am  not 
aware  that  the  corporations  have,  by  any  default,  forfeited  any 
of  their  rights  ;  and  if  they  have,  the  remedy  is  at  hand  under 
existing  laws.  Their  stock  and  their  bonds  are  held  by  a  large 


446  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

number  of  citizens,  and  the  income  of  these  roads  depends  en 
tirely  upon  fares  received  from  passengers.  The  reduction 
proposed  is  a  large  one,  and  it  is  claimed  will  permit  no  divi 
dends  to  investors.  This  may  not  be  true,  but  we  should  be 
satisfied  it  is  not,  before  the  proposed  law  takes  effect. 

It  is  manifestly  important  that  invested  capital  should  be 
protected,  and  that  its  necessity  and  usefulness  in  the  devel 
opment  of  enterprises  valuable  to  the  people  should  be 
recognized  by  conservative  conduct  on  the  part  of  the  State 
government. 

But  we  have  especially  in  our  keeping  the  honor  and  good 
faith  of  a  great  State,  and  we  should  see  to  it  that  no  suspicion 
attaches,  through  any  act  of  ours,  to  the  fair  fame  of  the  common 
wealth.  The  State  should  not  only  be  strictly  just,  but  scrupu 
lously  fair,  and  in  its  relations  to  the  citizen  every  legal  and 
moral  obligation  should  be  recognized.  This  can  only  be  done 
by  legislating  without  vindictiveness  or  prejudice,  and  with  a 
firm  determination  to  deal  justly  and  fairly  with  those  from 
whom  we  exact  obedience. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  fact  that  this  bill  originated  in 
response  to  the  demand  of  a  large  portion  of  the  people  of 
New  York  for  cheaper  rates  of  fare  between  their  places  of 
employment  and  their  homes,  and  I  realize  fully  the  desirabil 
ity  of  securing  to  them  all  the  privileges  possible,  but  the 
experience  of  other  States  teaches  that  we  must  keep  within 
the  limits  of  law  and  good  faith,  lest  in  the  end  we  bring  upon 
the  very  people  whom  we  seek  to  benefit  and  protect,  a  hard 
ship  which  must  surely  follow  when  these  limits  are  ignored. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND, 

Governor. 


SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES.  447 

V. 
Of  the  Amendments  to  the  Charter  of  Buffalo. 

EXECUTIVE  CHAMBER, 

ALBANY,  April  9,  1883. 
To  THE  ASSEMBLY  : 

Assembly  bill  No.  553,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  amend  chapter 
five  hundred  and  nineteen  of  the  laws  of  eighteen  hundred 
and  seventy,  entitled  *  An  Act  to  amend  the  charter  of  the  city 
of  Buffalo,'  passed  April  twenty-eight,  eighteen  hundred  and 
seventy,"  is  herewith  returned  without  approval. 
•  The  object  of  this  bill  is  to  reorganize  entirely  the  fire  de 
partment  of  the  city  of  Buffalo. 

The  present  department  was  established  in  1880,  under 
chapter  271  of  the,  laws  of  that  year,  and  its  management  and 
control  are  vested  in  three  commissioners,  who,  pursuant  to 
said  law,  were  appointed  by  the  mayor  of  the  city. 

The  gentlemen  thus  appointed  are  citizens  of  unquestioned 
probity,  intelligence,  and  executive  ability,  and  enjoy  and  de 
serve  the  respect  and  confidence  of  all  their  fellow-townsmen. 

Having  very  recently  had  official  relations  with  this  depart 
ment,  I  cannot  but  testify  to  its  efficiency  and  good  manage 
ment,  and  the  economy  with  which  its  affairs  are  conducted. 
And  yet,  before  it  has  been  three  years  in  operation,  it  is  pro 
posed,  bythe  bill  under  consideration,  to  uproot  and  sweep 
away  the  present  administration  of  this  important  department, 
and  venture  upon  another  experiment.  This  new  scheme  pro 
vides  for  the  appointment,  by  the  mayor,  on  the  first  Monday 
in  May,  1883,  of  a  chief  of  the  fire  department,  one  assistant 
chief,  and  two  district  chiefs  ;  the  city  is  divided  into  two  fire 
districts,  and  it  is  made  the  duty  of  the  district  chiefs  to  take 
the  charge  and  management  of  all  fires  in  their  respective  dis 
tricts  until  the  arrival  of  the  chief  or  assistant  chiefs. 

I  can  see  no  reason  for  dividing,  by  law,  the  city  into  fire 
districts,  unless  it  be  to  make  new  places  to  be  filled  by  the 
city  executive. 


448  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

The  provision  that  the  district  chief  shall  have  charge  and 
management  of  a  fire  in  his  district,  until  the  arrival  of  his 
superior,  gives  excuse  for  the  chief  of  another  district,  though 
first  on  the  ground,  to  refrain  from  interference. 

A  fire  department  should  be  organized  with  a  view  to  prompt 
and  effective  action  upon  a  sudden  emergency.  Every  mem 
ber  of  the  department  should  be,  at  all  times,  ready  for  service, 
and  there  should  be  no  mischief  invited,  by  rules  too  inflexible, 
as  to  who  should  have  charge  and  management  in  time  of  dan 
ger  to  life  and  property. 

Although  the  mayor  of  the  city,  under  the  provisions  of  the 
bill,  has  the  absolute  power  of  appointment  to  these  offices,  he 
may,  in  case  of  vacancy  by  death,  resignation,  removal,  or  other 
wise,  make  special  appointments,  until  permanent  appoint 
ments  are  made.  This  was  evidently  copied  from  the  charter 
of  1870,  which  allowed  the  mayor  to  appoint  fire  superintend 
ents,  by  and  with  the  advice  and  consent  of  the  common  coun 
cil.  It  was  intended  to  permit  the  filling  of  a  vacancy  by  the 
mayor  during  the  time  which  should  elapse  before  a  successor 
could  be  confirmed  by  the  council.  But  in  a  case  where  no 
confirmation  is  necessary,  such  a  provision  is  needless,  incon 
gruous,  and  mischievous.  The  mayor  should  be  as  well  pre 
pared  to  make  a  permanent  appointment  under  this  bill,  in 
case  of  a  vacancy,  as  a  temporary  one.  This  provision  would 
seem  to  give  him  the  power,  by  calling  an  appointment  a  tem 
porary  one,  to  retain  the  appointee  as  long  as  he  sees  fit, 
and,  under  the  pretext  of  a  permanent  appointment,  displace 
him  by  another  without  charges  or  an  opportunity  to  be 
heard. 

'  By  section  six  of  the  bill  an  appeal  is  permitted  from  the 
decision  of  the  mayor,  upon  the  trial  of  any  of  these  officers,  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Buffalo.  There  is  no  such  court  in 
existence. 

But  waiving  further  criticism  of  details,  my  attention  is 
directed  to  section  twenty  of  the  bill,  which,  to  the  promoters 
of  this  measure,  is  undoubtedly  its  most  important  feature. 


SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES.  449 

It  provides  that  immediately  upon  the  appointment  and  quali 
fication  of  the  chief,  the  terms  of  the  present  commissioners 
shall  cease  and  determine,  and  that  the  terms  of  office  of  all 
the  other  officers,  firemen,  and  employees  shall  also  cease  and 
determine  ten  days  thereafter.  Great  care  is  exercised  to 
provide  that  the  chiefs  and  all  the  firemen  and  employees,  ap 
pointed  under  the  new  scheme,  shall  be  discharged  only  for 
cause,  and  after  due  hearing  and  an  opportunity  for  defense  ; 
but  to  those  now  in  the  service,  numbering  about  two  hundred 
drilled  and  experienced  men,  no  such  privileges  are  accorded. 

The  purpose  of  the  bill  is  too  apparent  to  be  mistaken.  A 
tried,  economical,  and  efficient  administration  of  an  important 
department  in  a  large  city  is  to  be  destroyed,  upon  partisan 
grounds  or  to  satisfy  personal  animosities,  in  order  that  the 
places  and  patronage  attached  thereto  may  be  used  for  party 
advancement. 

I  believe  in  an  open  and  sturdy  partisanship,  which  secures 
the  legitimate  advantages  of  party  supremacy  ;  but  parties 
were  made  for  the  people,  and  I  am  unwilling,  knowingly,  to 
give  my  assent  to  measures  purely  partisan,  which  will  sacrifice 
or  endanger  their  interests. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


VI. 

Of  the  Texas  Seed  Bill. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  February  16,  1887. 
To  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES  : 

I  return  without  my  approval  House  bill  number  ten  thou 
sand  two  hundred  and  three,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  enable  the 
Commissioner  of  Agriculture  to  make  a  special  distribution  of 
seeds  in  drought-stricken  counties  of  Texas,  and  making  an 
appropriation  therefor." 

Jt is  represented  that  a  long-continued  and  extensive  drought 


45°  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

has  existed  in  certain  portions  of  the  State  of  Texas,  resulting 
in  a  failure  of  crops  and  consequent  distress  and  destitution. 

Though  there  has  been  some  difference  in  statements  con 
cerning  the  extent  of  the  people's  needs  in  the  localities  thus 
affected,  there  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  there  has  existed 
a  condition  calling  for  relief  ;  and  1  am  willing  to  believe  that, 
notwithstanding  the  aid  already  furnished,  a  donation  of  seed- 
grain  to  the  farmers  located  in  this  region,  to  enable  them  to 
put  in  new  crops,  would  serve  to  avert  a  continuance  or  return 
of  an  unfortunate  blight. 

And  yet  I  feel  obliged  to  withhold  my  approval  of  the  plan 
as  proposed  by  this  bill,  to  indulge  a  benevolent  and  chari 
table  sentiment  through  the  appropriation  of  public  funds  for 
that  purpose. 

I  can  find  no  warrant  for  such  an  appropriation  in  the  Con 
stitution,  and  I  do  not  believe  that  the  power  and  duty  of  the 
general  government  ought  to  be  extended  to  the  relief  of  in 
dividual  suffering  which  is  in  no  manner  properly  related  to 
the  public  service  or  benefit.  A  prevalent  tendency  to  disre 
gard  the  limited  mission  of  this  power  and  duty  should,  I 
think,  be  steadfastly  resisted,  to  the  end  that  the  lesson  should 
be  constantly  enforced  that,  though  the  people  support  the 
government,  the  government  should  not  support  the  people. 

The  friendliness  and  charity  of  our  countrymen  can  always 
be  relied  upon  to  relieve  their  fellow-citizens  in  misfortune. 
This  has  been  repeatedly  and  quite  lately  demonstrated. 
Federal  aid  in  such  cases  encourages  the  expectation  of  pater 
nal  care  on  the  part  of  the  government  and  weakens  the  stur- 
diness  of  our  national  character,  while  it  prevents  the  in 
dulgence  among  our  people  of  that  kindly  sentiment  and 
conduct  which  strengthen  the  bonds  of  a  common  brother 
hood. 

It  is  within  my  personal  knowledge  that  individual  aid  has,  to 
some  extent,  already  been  extended  to  the  sufferers  mentioned 
in  this  bill.  The  failure  of  the  proposed  appropriation  of  ten 
thousand  dollars  additional,  to  meet  their  remaining  wants,  will 


SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES.  45  r 

not  necessarily  result  in  continued  distress  if  the  emergency  is 
fully  made  known  to  the  people  of  the  country. 

It  is  here  suggested  that  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  is 
annually  directed  to  expend  a  large  sum  of  money  for  the  pur 
chase,  propagation,  and  distribution  of  seeds  and  other  things 
of  this  description,  two-thirds  of  which  are,  upon  the  request 
of  senators,  representatives,  and  delegates  in  Congress,  sup 
plied  to  them  for  distribution  among  their  constituents. 

The  appropriation  of  the  current  year  for  this  purpose  is 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  and  it  will  probably  be  no  less 
in  the  appropriation  for  the  ensuing  year.  I  understand  that 
a  large  quantity  of  grain  is  furnished  for  such  distribution, 
and  it  is  supposed  that  this  free  apportionment  among  their 
neighbors  is  a  privilege  which  may  be  waived  by  our  senators 
and  representatives. 

If  sufficient  of  them  should  request  the  Commissioner  of 
Agriculture  to  send  their  shares  of  the  grain  thus  allowed  them, 
to  the  suffering  farmers  of  Texas,  they  might  be  enabled  to 
sow  their  crops  ;  the  constituents,  for  whom  in  theory  this  grain 
is  intended,  could  well  bear  the  temporary  deprivation,  and  the 
donors  would  experience  the  satisfaction  attending  deeds  of 
charity. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


VII. 

Of  the  Direct  Tax  Bill. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  March  2,  1889. 
To  THE  SENATE  : 

I  herewith  return  without  approval  Senate  bill  number  one 
hundred  and  thirty-nine,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  credit  and  pay 
to  the  several  States  and  Territories  and  the  District  of  Col 
umbia  all  moneys  collected  under  the  direct  tax  levied  by  the 
Act  of  Congress  approved  August  fifth,  eighteen  hundred  and 
sixty-one." 


45 2  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

The  object  of  this  bill  is  quite  clearly  indicated  in  its  title. 
Its  provisions  have  been  much  discussed  in  both  branches  of 
Congress  and  have  received  emphatic  legislative  sanction.  I 
fully  appreciate  the  interest  which  it  has  excited,  and  have 
by  no  means  failed  to  recognize  the  persuasive  presentation 
made  in  its  favor.  I  know,  too,  that  the  interposition  of  Exec 
utive  disapproval  in  this  case  is  likely  to  arouse  irritation 
and  cause  complaint  and  earnest  criticism.  Since,  however, 
my  judgment  will  not  permit  me  to  assent  to  the  legislation 
proposed,  I  can  find  no  way  of  turning  aside  from  what  appears 
to  be  the  plain  course  of  official  duty. 

On  the  5th  day  of  August,  1861,  a  Federal  statute  was  passed 
entitled  u  An  Act  to  provide  increased  revenue  from  imports, 
to  pay  interest  on  the  public  debt,  and  for  other  purposes." 

This  law  was  passed  at  a  time  when  immense  sums  of  money 
were  needed  by  the  government  for  the  prosecution  of  a  war 
for  the  Union  ;  and  the  purpose  of  the  law  was  to  increase  in 
almost  every  possible  way  the  Federal  revenues.  The  first 
seven  sections  of  the  statute  were  devoted  to  advancing  very 
largely  the  rates  of  duties  on  imports  ;  and  to  supplement  this 
the  eighth  section  provided  that  a  direct  tax  of  twenty  millions 
of  dollars  should  be  annually  laid,  and  that  certain  amounts 
therein  specified  should  be  apportioned  to  the  respective 
States.  The  remainder  of  the  law,  consisting  of  fifty  sections, 
contained  the  most  particular  and  detailed  provisions  for  the 
collection  of  the  tax  through  Federal  machinery. 

It  was  declared,  among  other  things,  that  the  tax  should  be 
assessed  and  laid  on  all  lands  and  lots  of  ground  with  their 
improvements  and  dwelling-houses  ;  that  the  annual  amount 
of  said  taxes  should  be  a  lien  upon  all  lands  and  real  estate  of 
the  individuals  assessed  for  the  same,  and  that,  in  default  of 
payment,  the  said  taxes  might  be  collected  by  distraint  and  sale 
of  the  goods,  chattels,  and  effects  of  the  delinquent  persons. 

This  tax  was  laid  in  execution  of  the  power  conferred  upon 
the  general  government  for  that  purpose  by  the  Constitution. 
It  was  an  exercise  of  the  right  of  the  government  to  tax  its 


SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES.  453 

citizens.  It  dealt  with  individuals,  and  the  strong  arm  of  Fed 
eral  power  was  stretched  out  to  exact  from  those  who  owed  it 
support  and  allegiance  their  just  share  of  the  sum  it  had  de 
creed  should  be  raised  by  direct  taxation  for  the  general  good. 
The  lien  created  by  this  tax  was  upon  the  land  and  real  estate 
of  the  "  individuals  assessed  for  the  same,"  and  for  its  collection 
the  distraint  and  sale  of  personal  property  of  the  "  persons 
delinquent  "  were  permitted. 

But,  while  the  direct  relationship  and  responsibility  between 
the  individuals  taxed  and  the  Federal  government  were  thus 
created  by  the  exercise  of  the  highest  attribute  of  sovereignty, 
it  was  provided  in  the  statute  that  any  State  or  Territory  and 
the  District  of  Columbia  might  lawfully  "  assume,  assess, 
collect,  and  jpay  into  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  "  its 
quota  of  said  tax  in  its  own  way  and  manner,  and  by  and 
through  its  own  officers,  assessors,  and  collectors  ;  and  it  was 
further  provided  that  such  States  or  Territories  as  should  give 
notice  of  their  intention  to  thus  assume  and  pay,  or  to  assess, 
collect,  and  pay,  into  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States  such 
direct  tax,  should  be  entitled,  in  lieu  of  the  compensation,  pay, 
per  diem,  and  percentage  in  said  act  prescribed  and  allowed  to 
assessors,  assistant  assessors,  and  collectors  of  the  United 
States,  to  a  deduction  of  fifteen  per  centum  of  the  quota  of 
direct  tax  apportioned  to  such  States  or  Territories  and  levied 
and  collected  through  their  officers. 

It  was  also  provided  by  this  law  and  another  passed  the 
next  year  that  certain  claims  of  the  States  and  Territories 
against  the  United  States  might  be  applied  in  payment  of  such 
quotas.  Whatever  may  be  said  as  to  the  effect  of  these  pro 
visions  of  the  law,  it  can  hardly  be  claimed  that,  by  virtue 
thereof  or  any  proceedings  under  them,  the  apportioned 
quotas  of  this  tax  became  debts  against  the  several  States  and 
Territories,  or  that  they  were  liable  to  the  general  government 
therefor,  in  every  event,  and  as  principal  debtors  bound  by  an 
enforceable  obligation. 

In  the  forty-sixth  section   of  the   law  it  is   provided  that  in 


454  SOME  NOTABLE  VETOES. 

case  any  State,  Territory,  or  the  District  of  Columbia,  after 
notice  given  of  its  intention  to  assume  and  pay,  or  to  levy, 
collect  and  pay  said  direct  tax  apportioned  to  it,  should  fail 
to  pay  the  amount  of  said  direct  tax,  or  any  part  thereof,  it 
should  be  lawful  for  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  appoint 
United  States  officers  as  in  the  act  provided,  whose  duty  it 
should  be  to  proceed  forthwith  to  collect  all  or  any  part  of 
said  direct  tax,  "  the  same  as  though  said  State,  Territory,  or 
District  had  not  given  notice  nor  assumed  to  levy,  collect,  and 
pay  said  taxes  or  any  part  thereof." 

A  majority  of  the  States  undertook  the  collection  of  their 
quotas  and  accounted  for  the  amount  thereof  to  the  general 
government,  by  the  payment  of  money  or  by  setting  off  claims 
in  their  favor,  against  the  tax.  Fifteen  per  cent,  of  the  amount 
of  their  respective  quotas  was  retained  as  the  allowance  for 
collection  and  payment.  In  the  Northern,  or  such  as  were  then 
called  the  loyal  States,  nearly  the  entire  quotas  were  collected 
and  paid  through  the  State  agencies.  The  money  necessary 
for  this  purpose  was  generally  collected  from  the  citizens  of 
the  States  with  their  other  taxes,  and  in  whatever  manner  their 
quotas  may  have  been  cancelled,  whether  by  the  payment  of 
money  or  setting  off  claims  against  the  government,  it  is  safe 
to  say,  as  a  general  proposition,  that  the  people  of  these  States 
have  individually  been  obliged  to  pay  the  assessments  made 
upon  them  on  account  of  this  direct  tax,  and  have  intrusted  it  to 
their  several  States  to  be  transmitted  to  the  Federal  Treasury. 

Tn  the  Southern  States,  then  in  insurrection,  whatever 
was  actually  realized  in  money  upon  this  tax  was  collected 
directly  by  Federal  officers  without  the  interposition  of  State 
machinery  ;  and  a  part  of  its  quota  has  been  credited  to  each 
of  these  States. 

The  entire  amount  applied  upon  this  tax,  including  the 
fifteen  per  cent,  for  collection,  was  credited  to  the  several 
States  and  Territories  upon  the  books  of  the  Treasury,  whether 
collected  through  their  instrumentality  or  by  Federal  officers. 

The  sum  credited  to  all  the  States  was  $17, 359,685. 5  r,  which 


SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES.  455 

includes  more  than  two  millions  of  dollars  on  account  of  the 
fifteen  per  cent,  allowed  for  collecting.  Of  the  amount  cred 
ited,  only  about  two  millions  and  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars  is  credited  to  the  insurrectionary  States.  The  amount 
uncollected,  of  the  twenty  millions  directed  to  be  raised  by  this 
tax,  was  $2,646,314.49,  and  nearly  this  entire  sum  remained 
due  upon  the  quotas  apportioned  to  these  States. 

In  this  condition  of  affairs  the  bill  under  consideration 
directs  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  "  to  credit  to  each  State 
and  Territory  of  the  United  States  and  the  District  of  Columbia 
a  sum  equal  to  all  collections,  by  set-off  or  otherwise,  made 
from  said  States  and  Territories  and  the  District  of  Columbia, 
or  from  any  of  the  citizens  or  inhabitants  thereof  or  other  per 
sons,  under  the  act  of  Congress  approved  August  fifth,  eighteen 
hundred  and  sixty-one,  and  the  amendatory  acts  thereto." 
An  appropriation  is  also  made  of  such  a  sum  as  may  be  neces 
sary  to  reimburse  each  State,  Territory,  and  the  District  of 
Columbia  for  all  money  found  due  to  it  under  the  provisions 
of  the  bill,  and  it  is  provided  that  all  money,  still  due  to  the 
United  States  on  said  direct  tax,  shall  be  remitted  and  relin 
quished. 

The  conceded  effect  of  this  bill  is  to  take  from  the  money 
now  in  the  Treasury  the  sum  of  more  than  seventeen  millions 
of  dollars,  or  if  the  percentage  allowed  is  not  included,  more 
than  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  and  pay  back  to  the  respective 
States  and  Territories  the  sums  they  or  their  citizens  paid  more 
than  twenty-five  years  ago  upon  a  direct  tax  levied  by  the 
government  of  the  United  States  for  its  defense  and  safety. 

It  is  my  belief  that  this  appropriation  of  the  public  funds  is 
not  within  the  constitutional  power  of  the  Congress.  Under 
the  limited  and  delegated  authority,  conferred  by  the  Constitu 
tion  upon  the  general  government,  the  statement  of  the  pur 
poses  for  which  money  may  be  lawfully  raised,  by  taxation  in 
any  form,  declares  also  the  limit  of  the  objects  for  which  it 
may  be  expended. 

AH  must  agree  that  the  direct  tax  was  lawfully  and  constitu- 


45 6  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

tionally  laid,  and  that  it  was  rightfully  and  correctly  collected. 
It  cannot  be  claimed,  therefore,  nor  is  it  pretended,  that  any 
debt  arose  against  the  government  and  in  favor  of  any  State  or 
individual  by  the  exaction  of  this  tax.  Surely,  then,  the  ap 
propriation  directed  by  this  bill  cannot  be  justified  as  a  pay 
ment  of  a  debt  of  the  United  States. 

The  disbursement  of  this  money  clearly  has  no  relation  to 
the  common  defense.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  the  repayment  of 
money  raised  and  long  ago  expended  by  the  government  to  pro 
vide  for  the  common  defense. 

The  expenditure  can  not  properly  be  advocated  on  the 
ground  that  the  general  welfare  of  the  United  States  is  thereby 
provided  for  or  promoted.  This  "general  welfare  of  the 
United  States,"  as  used  in  the  Constitution,  can  only  justify 
appropriations  for  national  objects  and  for  purposes  which 
have  to  do  with  the  prosperity,  the  growth,  the  honor,  or  the 
peace  and  dignity  of  the  nation. 

A  sheer,  bald  gratuity  bestowed  either  upon  States  or  indi 
viduals,  based  upon  no  better  reason  than  supports  the  gift 
proposed  in  this  bill,  has  never  been  claimed  to  be  a  provision 
for  the  general  welfare.  More  than  fifty  years  ago  a  surplus  of 
public  money  in  the  Treasury  was  distributed  among  the 
States  ;  but  the  unconstitutionally  of  such  distribution,  con 
sidered  as  a  gift  of  money,  appears  to  have  been  conceded,  for 
it  was  put  into  the  State  treasuries  under  the  guise  of  a  de 
posit  or  loan,  subject  to  the  demand  of  the  government. 

If  it  was  proposed  to  raise  by  assessment  upon  the  people  the 
sum  necessary  to  refund  the  money  collected  upon  this  direct 
tax,  I  am  sure  many  who  are  now  silent  would  insist  upon  the 
limitations  of  the  Constitution  in  opposition  to  such  a  scheme. 
A  large  surplus  in  the  Treasury  is  the  parent  of  many  ills,  and 
among  them  is  found  a  tendency  to  an  extremely  liberal,  if  not 
loose,  construction  of  the  Constitution.  It  also  attracts  the  gaze 
of  States  and  individuals  with  a  kind  of  fascination,  and  gives 
rise  to  plans  and  pretensions  that  an  uncongested  Treasury 
never  could  excite. 


SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES.  457 

But,  if  the  constitutional  question  involved  in  the  considera 
tion  of  this  bill  should  be  determined  in  its  favor,  there  are 
other  objections  remaining  which  prevent  my  assent  to  its  pro 
visions. 

There  should  be  a  certainty  and  stability  about  the  enforce 
ment  of  taxation  which  should  teach  the  citizen  that  the  govern 
ment  will  only  use  the  power  to  tax  in  cases  where  its  necessity 
and  justice  are  not  doubtful,  and  which  should  also  discourage 
the  disturbing  idea  that  the  exercise  of  this  power  may  be  re 
voked  by  reimbursement  of  taxes  once  collected.  Any  other 
theory  cheapens  and  in  a  measure  discredits  a  process  which 
more  than  any  other  is  a  manifestation  of  sovereign  author 
ity. 

A  government  is  not  only  kind,  but  performs  its  highest  duty, 
when  it  restores  to  the  citizen  taxes  unlawfully  collected  or 
which  have  been  erroneously  or  oppressively  extorted  by  its 
agents  or  officers  ;  but  aside  from  these  incidents,  the  people 
should  not  be  familiarized  with  the  spectacle  of  their  govern 
ment  repenting  the  collection  of  taxes  and  restoring  them. 

The  direct  tax  levied  in  1861  is  not  even  suspected  of  in 
validity  ;  there  never  was  a  tax  levied  which  was  more  needed, 
and  its  justice  cannot  be  questioned.  Why,  then,  should  it  be 
returned  ? 

The  fact  that  the  entire  tax  was  not  paid  furnishes  no  reason 
that  would  not  apply  to  nearly  every  case  where  taxes  are  laid. 
There  are  always  delinquents,  and  while  the  more  thorough  and 
complete  collection  of  taxes  is  a  troublesome  problem  of 
government,  the  failure  to  solve  the  problem  has  never  been 
held  to  call  for  the  return  of  taxes  actually  collected. 

The  deficiency  in  the  collection  of  this  tax  is  found  almost 
entirely  in  the  insurrectionary  States,  while  the  quotas  appor 
tioned  to  the  other  States  were,  as  a  general  rule,  fully  paid  ; 
and  three-fourths  or  four-fifths  of  the  money  which  it  is  pro 
posed  in  this  bill  to  return  would  be  paid  into  the  treasuries  of 
the  loyal  States.  But  no  valid  reason  for  such  payment  is 
found  in  the  fact  that  the  government  at  first  could  not,  and 


45 8  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

afterward,  for  reasons  probably  perfectly  valid,  did  not,  enforce 
collection  in  the  other  States. 

There  were  many  Federal  taxes  which  were  not  paid  by  the 
people  in  the  rebellious  States  ;  and  if  the  non-payment  by 
them  of  this  direct  tax  entitles  the  other  States  to  a  donation 
of  the  share  of  said  taxes  paid  by  their  citizens,  why  should 
not  the  income  tax  and  many  other  internal  taxes  paid  entirely 
by  the  citizens  of  loyal  States  be  also  paid  into  the  treasuries 
of  these  States  ?  Considerations  which  recognize  sectional 
divisions,  or  the  loyalty  of  the  different  States  at  the  time  this 
tax  was  laid,  should  not  enter  into  the  discussion  of  the  merits 
of  this  measure. 

The  loyal  States  should  not  be  paid  the  large  sums  of  money 
promised  them  by  this  bill  because  they  were  loyal  and  other 
States  were  not,  nor  should  the  States  which  rebelled  against 
the  government  be  paid  the  smaller  sum  promised  them  be 
cause  they  were  in  rebellion  and  thus  prevented  the  collection 
of  their  entire  quotas,  nor  because  this  concession  to  them  is 
necessary  to  justify  the  proposed  larger  gifts  to  the  other 
States. 

The  people  of  the  loyal  States  paid  this  direct  tax  ns  they 
bore  other  burdens  in  support  of  the  government  ;  and  I  be 
lieve  the  tax-payers  themselves  are  content.  In  the  light  of 
these  considerations  I  am  opposed  to  the  payment  of  money 
from  the  Federal  Treasury  to  enrich  the  treasuries  of  the  States. 
Their  funds  should  be  furnished  by  their  own  citizens,  and  thus 
should  be  fostered  the  tax-payers'  watchfulness  of  State  ex 
penditures  and  the  tax-payers'  jealous  insistence  upon  the  strict 
accountability  of  State  officials.  These  elements  of  purity  arid 
strength  in  a  State  are  not  safely  exchanged  for  the  threatened 
demoralization  and  carelessness  attending  the  custody  and 
management  of  large  gifts  from  the  Federal  Treasury. 

The  baneful  effect  of  a  surplus,  in  the  Treasury  of  the  gen 
eral  government,  is  daily  seen  and  felt.  I  do  not  think,  how 
ever,  that  this  surplus  should  be  reduced  or  its  contagion  spread 


SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES.  459 

throughout  the  States  by  methods  such  as  are  provided  in  this 
bill. 

There  is  still  another  objection  to  the  bill,  arising  from  what 
seems  to  me  its  unfairness  and  unjust  discrimination. 

In  the  case  of  proposed  legislation,  of  at  least  doubtful  con 
stitutionality  and  based  upon  no  legal  right,  the  equities  which 
recommend  it  should  always  be  definite  and  clear. 

The  money  appropriated  by  this  bill  is  to  be  paid  to  the 
Governors  of  the  respective  States  and  Territories  in  which  it 
was  collected,  whether  the  same  was  derived  through  said 
States  and  Territories  or  directly  "  from  any  of  the  citizens  or 
inhabitants  thereof  or  other  persons";  and  it  is  further  pro 
vided  that  such  sums  as  were  collected  in  payment  of  this  Fed 
eral  tax  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  State  or  Territorial 
officials,  and  accounted  for  to  the  general  government  by  such 
States  and  Territories,  are  to  be  paid  unconditionally  to  their 
Governors,  while  the  same  collected  in  payment  of  said  tax  by 
the  United  States,  or,  in  other  words,  by  the  Federal  ma 
chinery  created  for  that  purpose,  are  to  be  held  in  trust  by 
said  States  or  Territories  for  the  benefit  of  those  paying  the 
same. 

I  am  unable  to  understand  how  this  discrimination  in  favor 
of  those  who  have  made  payment  of  this  tax  directly  to  the 
officers  of  the  Federal  Government,  and  against  those  who 
made  such  payments  through  State  or  Territorial  agencies, 
can  be  defended  upon  fair  and  equitable  principles.  It  was 
the  general  government  in  every  case  which  exacted  this  tax 
from  its  citizens  and  people  in  the  different  States  and  Terri 
tories  ;  and  to  provide  for  reimbursement  to  a  part  of  its 
citizens  by  the  creation  of  a  trust  for  their  benefit,  while  the 
money  exacted  in  payment  of  this  tax  from  a  far  greater  num 
ber  is  paid  unconditionally  into  the  State  and  Territorial  treas 
uries,  is  an  unjust  and  unfair  proceeding,  in  which  the  gov 
ernment  should  not  be  implicated. 

It  will  hardly  do  to  say  that  the  States  and'Territories  who 


4^o  SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES. 

are  the  recipients  of  these  large  gifts  may  be  trusted  to  do 
justice  to  its  citizens  who  originally  paid  the  money.  This  can 
not  be  relied  upon,  nor  should  the  government  lose  sight  of 
the  equality  of  which  it  boasts,  and,  having  entered  upon  the 
plan  of  reimbursement,  abandon  to  other  agencies  the  duty 
of  just  distribution,  and  thus  incur  the  risk  of  becoming  ac 
cessory  to  actual  inequality  and  injustice. 

If,  in  defense  of  the  plan  proposed,  it  is  claimed  that  exact 
equality  cannot  be  reached  in  the  premises,  this  may  be  readily 
conceded.  The  money  raised  by  this  direct  tax  was  collected 
and  expended  twenty-seven  years  ago.  Nearly  a  generation 
has  passed  away  since  that  time.  Even  if  distribution  should 
be  attempted  by  the  States  and  Territories,  as  well  as  by  the 
government,  the  taxpayers  in  many  cases  are  neither  alive 
nor  represented,  and  in  many  other  cases,  if  alive,  they  cannot 
be  found.  Fraudulent  claims  would  often  outrun  honest  ap 
plications,  and  innumerable  and  bitter  contests  would  arise  be 
tween  claimants. 

Another  difficulty  in  the  way  of  doing  perfect  justice  in  the 
operation  of  this  plan  of  reimbursement  is  found  in  the  fact 
that  the  money  to  be  appropriated  therefor  was  contributed  to 
the  Federal  Treasury  for  entirely  different  purposes,  by  a  gen 
eration  many  of  whom  were  not  born  when  the  direct  tax  was 
levied  and  paid,  who  have  no  relation  to  said  tax,  and  cannot 
share  in  its  distribution.  While  they  stand  by  and  see  the 
money  they  have  been  obliged  to  pay  into  the  public  Treasury, 
professedly  to  meet  present  necessities,  expended  to  reimburse 
taxation  long  ago  fairly,  legally,  and  justly  collected  from 
others,  they  cannot  fail  to  see  the  unfairness  of  the  transaction. 

The  existence  of  a  surplus  in  the  Treasury  is  no  answer  to 
these  objections.  It  is  still  the  people's  money,  and  better  use 
can  be  found  for  it  than  the  distribution  of  it  upon  the  plea  of 
the  reimbursement  of  ancient  taxation.  A  more  desirable  plan 
to  reduce  and  prevent  the  recurrence  of  a  large  surplus  can 
easily  be  adopted — one  that,  instead  of  creating  injustice  and  in 
equality,  promotes  justice  and  equality  by  leaving  in  the  hands 


SOME  NOTABLE   VETOES.  4* 

of  the  people  and  for  their  use  the  money  not  needed  by  the 
government  "  to  pay  the  debts  and  provide  for  the  common 
defense  and  general  welfare  of  the  United  States." 

The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  making  a  just  reimbursement 
of  this  direct  tax,  instead  of  excusing  the  imperfections  of  the 
bill  under  consideration,  furnish  reasons  why  the  scheme  it 
proposes  should  not  be  entered  upon. 

I  am  constrained,  upon  the  considerations  herein  presented, 
to  withhold  my  assent  from  the  bill  herewith  returned,  because 
I  believe  it  to  be  without  constitutional  warrant,  because  I  am 
of  the  opinion  that  there  exist  no  adequate  reasons  either  in 
right  or  equity  for  the  return  of  the  tax  in  said  bill  mentioned, 
and  because  I  believe  its  execution  would  cause  actual  injus 
tice  and  unfairness. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

CHARACTERISTIC    MESSAGES: 
I. 

Concerning  the  Immigration  Commissioner. 

ALBANY,    May  4,    1883. 
To  THE  SENATE: 

I  DEEM  it  my  duty  to  remind  you  of  the  importance  of  giving 
effect  to  the  law  lately  passed  by  the  legislature  "to  amend 
the  law  relating  to  alien  immigrants,  and  to  secure  an  improved 
administration  of  alien  immigration." 

This  statute  was  the  result  of  investigation  which  demon 
strated  that  the  present  management  of  this  very  important 
department  is  a  scandal  and  a  reproach  to  civilization.  The 
money  of  the  State  is  apparently  expended  with  no  regard  to 
economy,  the  most  disgraceful  dissensions  prevail  among  those 
having  the  matter  in  charge,  barefaced  jobbery  has  been  per 
mitted,  and  the  poor  immigrant  who  looks  to  the  institution  for 
protection,  finds  that  his  helplessness  and  forlorn  condition 
afford  the  readily  seized  opportunity  for  imposition  and 
swindling. 

These  facts  lift  the  efforts  to  reform  the  management  above 
partisan  considerations,  and  make  the  cause  one  in  which  every 
right-minded  man  should  be  enlisted,  and  one  in  which  those 
chosen  to  protect  the  rights  and  the  honor  of  the  people  of  the 
State  should  gladly  co-operate. 

The  law  lately  passed,  it  is  admitted,  seeks  in  a  practical 
way  to  remedy  the  evils  referred  to. 

In  the  enforcement  of  this  law,  it  became  my  duty  to  send 
to  the  Senate,  for  its  confirmation,  the  name  of  a  person  who 

462 


CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES.  463 

should  act  as  commissioner,  and  who  should  have  charge  of 
the  important  matters  provided  for. 

This  I  have  done.  In  the  discharge  of  this  duty  I  was 
fortunate  enough  to  be  able  to  present  the  name  of  a  citixcn  of 
the  State,  of  conceded  integrity,  ability,  and  administrative 
capacity,  who  enjoys  the  respect  and  esteem  of  all  who  know 
him,  and  whose  benevolent  nature  would  insure  the  protection 
and  kind  care  of  the  destitute  and  friendless  strangers  who 
should  be  put  in  his  charge. 

But  the  unmistakable  indications  are  that,  in  its  closing  hours, 
the  Senate  will  refuse  to  confirm  his  appointment,  and  thus 
continue  the  present  scandal  and  abuses. 

Some  of  those  now  in  charge  of  this  department  and  their 
beneficiaries  are  on  the  ground  and  about  the  halls  of  legislation, 
seeking  to  retain  their  control  and  their  abused  advantages. 

The  refusal  to  confirm  the  appointee  is  not  based  upon  any 
allegation  of  unfitness,  nor  has  such  a  thing  been  suggested. 
It  has  its  rise,  as  I  understand  the  situation,  concededly  and 
openly,  in  an  overweening  greed  for  the  patronage  which  may 
attach  to  the  place,  and  which  will  not  be  promised  in  advance, 
and  in  questionable  partisanship,  which  is  insisted  on,  at  the 
expense  of  important  interests. 

There  has  not  been  a  reason  suggested  why  the  name  of  the 
appointee  should  be  withdrawn,  and  I  should  be  unjust  and 
derelict  in  my  duty  if  I  should  pursue  that  course.  The  Sen 
ate  is  reminded,  too,  that  the  present  situation  of  affairs  pre 
cludes  my  submitting  another  name  if  I  desired. 

I  am  profoundly  sensible  of  the  absolute  power  and  right  of 
the  Senate  in  the  premises,  and  do  not  seek  to  question  it  even 
in  this  case.  Every  member  knows  the  motives  for  his  con 
duct,  and  must  justify  them  to  his  constituents. 

The  fact  remains,  however,  that  a  captious  opposition  to  the 
execution  of  the  best  remedial  law  of  the  present  session  of 
the  legislature  perpetuates  the  oppression  of  the  immigrant  and 
the  practice  of  unblushing  peculation.  I  have  endeavored  to 
co-operate  with  the  Senate  in  supplementing  the  passage  of  the 


464  CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES. 

law,  by  putting  the  machinery  in  motion  for  its  execution;  and 
I  may,  perhaps,  be  allowed  to  express  the  hope  that  its  opera 
tion  may  not  be  defeated.  If  it  is,  the  responsibility  must  rest 
where  it  belongs. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


II. 

On  Giving  Reasons  for  Removals  from  Office.      \ 

EXECUTIVE    MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  March  i,  1886. 
To  THE  SENATE: 

Ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  present  session  of  the 
Senate,  the  different  heads  of  the  Departments  attached  to  the 
executive  branch  of  the  government  have  been  plied  with  various 
requests  and  demands  from  committees  of  the  Senate,  from 
members  of  such  committees,  and  at  last  from  the  Senate  itself, 
requiring  the  transmission  of  reason  for  the  suspension  of  certain 
officials  during  the  recess  of  that  body,  or  for  the  papers  touch 
ing  the  conduct  of  such  officials,  or  for  all  papers  and  documents 
relating  to  such  suspensions,  or  for  all  documents  and  papers 
filed  in  such  Departments  in  relation  to  the  management  and 
conduct  of  the  offices  held  by  such  suspended  officials. 

The  different  terms  from  time  to  time  adopted  in  making 
these  requests  and  demands,  the  order  in  which  they  succeeded 
each  other,  and  the  fact  that  when  made  by  the  Senate  the 
resolution  for  that  purpose  was  passed  in  executive  session, 
have  led  to  a  presumption,  the  correctness  of  which  will,  I 
suppose,  be  candidly  admitted,  that,  from  first  to  last,  the 
information  thus  sought  and  the  papers  thus  demanded  were 
desired  for  use  by  the  Senate  and  its  committees  in  consider 
ing  the  propriety  of  the  suspensions  referred  to. 

Though  these  suspensions  are  my  executive  acts,  based  upon 
considerations  addressed  to  me  alone,  and  for  which  I  am 
wholly  responsible,  I  have  had  no  invitation  from  the  Senate 
to  state  the  position  which  I  have  felt  constrained  to  assume 


CffA  KA  C  TERfS  TIC  MESS  A  GES.  465 

in  relation  to  the  same,  or  to  interpret  for  myself  my  acts  and 
motives  in  the  premises. 

In  this  condition  of  affairs,  I  have  forborne  addressing  the 
Senate  upon  the  subject,  lest  I  might  be  accused  of  thrusting 
myself  unbidden  upon  the  attention  of  that  body. 

But  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  of  the 
Senate,  lately  presented  and  published,  which  censures  the 
Attorney-General  of  the  United  States  for  his  refusal  to  trans 
mit  certain  papers  relating  to  a  suspension  from  office,  and 
which  also,  if  I  correctly  interpret  it,  evinces  a  misapprehen 
sion  of  the  position  of  the  Executive  upon  the  question  of  such 
suspensions,  will,  I  hope,  justify  this  communication. 

This  report  is  predicated  upon  a  resolution  of  the  Senate 
directed  to  the  Attorney-General  and  his  reply  to  the  same. 
This  resolution  was  adopted  in  executive  session  devoted 
entirely  to  business  connected  with  the  consideration  of  nom 
inations  for  office.  It  required  the  Attorney-General  "to  trans 
mit  to  the  Senate  copies  of  all  documents  and  papers  that  have 
been  filed  in  the  Department  of  Justice  since  the  ist  day  of 
January,  1885,  in  relation  to  the  management  and  conduct  of 
the  office  of  district  attorney  of  the  United  States  of  the 
southern  district  of  Alabama." 

The  incumbent  of  this  office  on  the  ist  day  of  January, 
1885,  a-nd  until  the  iyth  day  of  July  ensuing,  was  George  M. 
Duskin,  who,  on  the  day  last  mentioned,  was  suspended  by  an 
Executive  order,  and  John  D.  Burnett  designated  to  perform 
the  duties  of  said  office.  At  the  time  of  the  passage  of  the 
resolution  above  referred  to,  the  nomination  of  Burnett  for 
said  office  was  pending  before  the  Senate,  and  all  the  papers 
relating  to  said  nomination  were  before  that  body  for  its 
inspection  and  information. 

In  reply  to  this  resolution,  the  Attorney-General,  after  refer 
ring  to  the  fact  that  the  papers  relating  to  the  nomination  of 
Burnett  had  already  been  sent  to  the  Senate,  stated  that  he 
was  directed  by  the  President  to  say  that  "the  papers  and 
documents  which  are  mentioned  in  said  resolution  and  still 


466  CHAR  A  CTERIS  TIC  MESS  A  GES. 

remaining  in  the  custody  of  this  Department,  having  exclusive 
reference  to  the  suspension  by  the  President  of  George  M. 
Duskin,  the  late  incumbent  of  the  office  of  district  attorney  for 
the  southern  district  of  Alabama,  it  is  not  considered  that  the 
public  interests  will  be  promoted  by  a  compliance  with  said 
resolution  and  the  transmission  of  the  papers  and  documents 
therein  mentioned  to  the  Senate  in  executive  session." 

Upon  this  resolution  and  the  answer  thereto  the  issue  is  thus 
stated  by  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  at  the  outset  of  the 
report: 

The  important  question,  then,  is  whether  it  is  within  the  constitutional 
competence  of  either  house  of  Congress  to  have  access  to  the  official  papers 
and  documents  in  the  various  public  offices  of  the  United  States  created  by 
laws  enacted  by  themselves. 

I  do  not  suppose  that  "the  public  offices  of  the  United 
States"  are  regulated  or  controlled  in  their  relations  to  either 
house  of  Congress  by  the  fact  that  they  were  "created  by  laws 
enacted  by  themselves."  It  must  be  that  these  instrumentali 
ties  were  created  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  and  to  answer 
the  general  purposes  of  government  under  the  Constitution 
and  the  laws,  and  that  they  are  unincumbered  by  any  lien  in 
favor  of  either  branch  of  Congress  growing  out  of  their  con 
struction,  and  unembarrassed  by  any  obligation  to  the  Senate 
as  the  price  of  their  creation. 

The  complaint  of  the  committee,  that  access  to  official 
papers  in  the  public  offices  is  denied  the  Senate,  is  met  by  the 
statement  that  at  no  time  has  it  been  the  disposition  or  the 
intention  of  the  President  or  any  Department  of  the  executive 
branch  of  the  government  to  withhold  from  the  Senate  official 
documents  or  papers  filed  in  any  of  the  public  offices.  While 
it  is  by  no  means  conceded  that  the  Senate  has  the  right,  in  any 
case,  to  review  the  act  of  the  Executive  in  removing  or  sus 
pending  a  public  officer  upon  official  documents  or  otherwise, 
it  is  considered  that  documents  and  papers  of  that  nature 
should,  because  they  are  official,  be  freely  transmitted  to  the 


CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES.  467 

Senate  upon  its  demand,  trusting  the  use  of  the  same  for 
proper  and  legitimate  purposes  to  the  good  faith  of  that  body. 
And  though  no  such  paper  or  document  has  been  specifically 
demanded-  in  any  of  the  numerous  requests  and  demands  made 
upon  the  Departments,  yet,  as  often  as  they  were  found  in  the 
public  offices,  they  have  been  furnished  in  answer  to  such 
applications. 

The  letter  of  the  Attorney-General  in  response  to  the  resolu 
tion  of  the  Senate,  in  the  particular  case  mentioned  in  the  com 
mittee's  report,  was  written  at  my  suggestion  and  by  my  direc 
tion.  There  had  been  no  official  papers  or  documents  filed  in 
this  Department  relating  to  the  case,  within  the  period  specified 
in  the  resolution.  The  letter  was  intended,  by  its  description 
of  the  papers  and  documents  remaining  in  the  custody  of  the 
Department,  to  convey  the  idea  that  they  were  not  official; 
and  it  was  assumed  that  the  resolution  called  for  information, 
papers,  and  documents  of  the  same  character  as  were  required 
by  the  requests  and  demands  which  preceded  it. 

Everything  that  had  been  written  or  done  on  behalf  of  the 
Senate,  from  the  beginning,  pointed  to  all  letters  and  papers  of 
a  private  and  unofficial  nature  as  the  objects  of  search,  if  they 
were  to  be  found  in  the  Departments,  and  provided  that  they 
had  been  presented  to  the  Executive  with  a  view  to  their  con 
sideration  upon  the  question  of  suspension  from  office. 

Against  the  transmission  of  such  papers  and  documents 
I  have  interposed  my  advice  and  direction.  This  has  not 
been  done,  as  is  suggested  in  the  committee's  report,  upon  the 
assumption  on  my  part  that  the  Attorney-General  or  any  other 
head  of  a  Department  "is  the  servant  of  the  President,  and 
is  to  give  or  withhold  copies  of  documents  in  his  office  accord 
ing  to  the  will  of  the  Executive  and  not  otherwise,"  but 
because  I  regard  the  papers  and  documents  withheld  and 
addressed  to  me,  or  intended  for  my  use  and  action,  purely 
unofficial  and  private,  not  infrequently  confidential,  and  having 
reference  to  the  performance  of  a  duty  exclusively  mine.  I 
consider  them  in  no  proper  sense  as  upon  the  files  of  the 


468  CH A  KA  C  T ERISTIC  MESS  A  GES. 

Department,  but  as  deposited  there  for  my  convenience, 
remaining  still  completely  under  my  control.  I  suppose  if  I 
desired  to  take  them  into  my  custody  I  might  do  so  with  entire 
propriety,  and  if  I  saw  fit  to  destroy  them  no  one  could 
complain. 

Even  the  committee  in  its  report  appears  to  concede  that 
there  may  be,  with  the  President  or  in  the  Departments,  papers 
and  documents  which,  on  account  of  their  unofficial  character, 
are  not  subject  to  the  inspection  of  the  Congress.  A  reference 
in  the  report  to  instances  where  the  House  of  Representatives 
ought  not  to  succeed  in  a  call  for  the  production  of  papers  is 
immediately  followed  by  this  statement: 

The  committee  feels  authorized  to  state,  after  a  somewhat  careful  re 
search,  that  within  the  foregoing  limits  there  is  scarcely  in  the  history  of  this 
government, until  now,  any  instance  of  a  refusal  by  a  head  of  a  Department, 
or  even  of  the  President  himself,  to  communicate  official  facts  and  informa 
tion  as  distinguished  from  private  and  unofficial  papers,  motions,  views, 
reasons,  and  opinions,  to  either  house  of  Congress  when  unconditionally  de 
manded. 

To  which  of  the  classes  thus  recognized  do  the  papers  and 
documents  belong  that  are  now  the  objects  of  the  Senate's 
quest? 

They  consist  of  letters  and  representations  addressed  to  the 
Executive  or  intended  for  his  inspection;  they  are  voluntarily 
written  and  presented  by  private  citizens  who  are  not  in  the 
least  instigated  thereto  by  any  official  invitation  or  at  all  sub 
ject  to  official  control.  While  some  of  them  are  entitled  to 
Executive  consideration,  many  of  them  are  so  irrelevant,  or  in 
the  light  of  other  facts  so  worthless,  that  they  have  not  been 
given  the  least  weight  in  determining  the  question  to  which 
they  are  supposed  to  relate. 

Are  all  these,  simply  because  they  are  preserved,  to  be  con 
sidered  official  documents  and  subject  to  the  inspection  of  the 
Senate?  If  not,  who  is  to  determine  which  belong  to  this 
class?  Are  the  motives  and  purposes  of  the  Senate,  as  they 
a~c  dr.y  by  day  developed,  such  as  would  be  satisfied  with  my 


(."ITARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES.  469 

selection?  Am  I  to  submit  to  theirs  at  the  risk  of  being 
charged  with  making  a  suspension  from  office  upon  evidence 
which  was  not  even  considered? 

Are  these  papers  to  be  regarded  official  because  they  have 
not  only  been  presented  but  preserved  in  the  public  offices? 

Their  nature  and  character  remain  the  same,  whether  they 
are  kept  in  the  Executive  Mansion  or  deposited  in  the  Depart 
ments.  There  is  no  mysterious  power  of  transmutation  in 
departmental  custody,  nor  is  there  magic  in  the  undefined  and 
sacred  solemnity  of  Department  files.  If  the  presence  of 
these  papers  in  the  public  offices  is  a  stumbling-block  in  the 
way  of  the  performance  of  senatorial  duty,  it  can  be  easily 
removed. 

The  papers  and  documents  which  have  been  described  derive 
no  official  character  from  any  constitutional,  statutory,  or  other 
requirement  making  them  necessary  to  the  performance  of  the 
official  duty  of  the  Executive. 

It  will  not  be  denied,  I  suppose,  that  the  President  may 
suspend  a  public  officer  in  the  entire  absence  of  any  papers  or 
documents  to  aid  his  official  judgment  and  discretion.  And  I 
am  quite  prepared  to  avow  that  the  cases  are  not  few  in  which 
suspensions  from  office  have  depended  more  upon  oral  repre 
sentations  made  to  me  by  citizens  of  known  good  repute,  and 
by  members  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and  Senators  of 
the  United  States,  than  upon  any  letters  and  documents  pre 
sented  for  my  examination.  I  have  not  felt  justified  in  sus 
pecting  the  veracity,  integrity,  and  patriotism  of  Senators,  or 
ignoring  their  representations,  because  they  were  not  in  party 
affiliation  with  the  majority  of  their  associates;  and  I  recall  a 
few  suspensions  which  bear  the  approval  of  individual  mem 
bers  identified  politically  with  the  majority  in  the  Senate. 

While,  therefore,  I  am  constrained  to  deny  the  right  of  the 
Senate  to  the  papers  and  documents  described,  so  far  as  the 
right  to  the  same  is  based  upon  the  claim  that  they  are  in  any 
view  of  the  subject  official,  I  am  also  led  unequivocally  to 
dispute  the  right  of  the  Senate,  by  the  aid  of  any  documents 


470  CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES. 

whatever,  or  in  any  way  save  through  the  judicial  process  of 
trial  on  impeachment,  to  review  or  reverse  the  acts  of  the 
Executive  in  the  suspension,  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate, 
of  Federal  officials. 

1  believe  the  power  to  remove  or  suspend  such  officials  is 
vested  in  the  President  alone  by  the  Constitution,  which  in 
express  terms  provides  that  "the  executive  power  shall  In 
vested  in  a  President  of  the  United  States  of  America,"  and 
that  "he  shall  take  care  that  the  laws  be  faithfully  executed." 

The  Senate  belongs  to  the  legislative  branch  of  the  govern 
ment.  When  the  Constitution,  by  express  provision,  super- 
added  to  its  legislative  duties  the  right  to  advise  and  consent  to 
appointments  to  office  and  to  sit  as  a  court  of  impeachment,  it 
conferred  upon  that  body  all  the  control  and  regulation  of 
Executive  action  supposed  to  be  necessary  for  the  safety  of  the 
people;  and  this  express  and  special  grant  of  such  extraor 
dinary  powers,  not  in  any  way  related  to  or  growing  out  of 
general  senatorial  duty,  and  in  itself  a  departure  from  the  gen 
eral  plan  of  our  government,  should  be  held,  under  a  familiar 
maxim  of  construction,  to  exclude  every  other  right  of  inter 
ference  with  Executive  functions. 

In  the  first  Congress  which  assembled  after  the  adoption  of 
the  Constitution,  comprising  many  who  aided  in  its  prepara 
tion,  a  legislative  construction  was  given  to  that  instrument  in 
which  the  independence  of  the  Executive  in  the  matter  of 
removals  from  office  was  fully  sustained. 

I  think  it  will  be  found  that  in  the  subsequent  discussions  of 
this  question  there  was  generally,  if  not  at  all  times,  a  proposi 
tion  pending  in  some  way  to  curtail  this  power  of  the  Presi 
dent  by  legislation,  which  furnishes  evidence  that  to  limit  such 
power  it  was  supposed  to  be  necessary  to  supplement  the  Con 
stitution  by  such  legislation. 

The  first  enactment  of  this  description  was  passed  under  a 
stress  of  partisanship  and  political  bitterness  which  culminated 
in  the  President's  impeachment. 

This   law    provided    that    the  Federal    officers    to   which    it 


CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES.  47  I 

applied  could  only  be  suspended  during  the  recess  of  the  Sen 
ate  when  shown  by  evidence  satisfactory  to  the  President  to  be 
guilty  of  misconduct  in  office,  or  crime,  or  when  incapable  or 
disqualified  to  perform  their  duties,  and  that  within  twenty 
days  after  the  next  meeting  of  the  Senate  it  should  be  the  duty 
of  the  President  "to  report  to  the  Senate  such  suspension,  with 
the  evidence  and  reasons  for  his  action  in  the  case." 

This  statute,  passed  in  1867,  when  Congress  was  over 
whelmingly  and  bitterly  opposed  politically  to  the  President, 
may  be  regarded  as  an  indication  that  even  then  it  was  thought 
necessary  by  a  Congress,  determined  upon  the  subjugation  of 
the  Executive  to  legislative  will,  to  furnish  itself  a  law  for  that 
purpose,  instead  of  attempting  to  reach  the  object  intended  by 
an  invocation  of  any  pretended  constitutional  right. 

The  law  which  thus  found  its  way  to  our  statute  book  was 
plain  in  its  terms,  and  its  intent  needed  no  avowal.  If  valid, 
and  now  in  operation,  it  would  justify  the  present  course  of 
the  Senate  and  command  the  obedience  of  the  Executive  to 
its  demands.  It  may,  however,  be  remarked  in  passing,  that, 
under  this  law,  the  President  had  the  privilege  of  presenting  to 
the  body  which  assumed  to  review  his  executive  acts  his 
reasons  therefor,  instead  of  being  excluded  from  explanation 
or  judged  by  papers  found  in  the  Departments. 

Two  years  after  the  law  of  1867  was  passed,  and  within  less 
than  five  weeks  after  the  inauguration  of  a  President  in  polit 
ical  accord  with  both  branches  of  Congress,  the  sections  of  the 
act  regulating  suspensions  from  office  during  the  recess  of  the 
Senate  were  entirely  repealed  and  in  their  place  were  substi 
tuted  provisions  which,  instead  of  limiting  the  causes  of 
suspension  to  misconduct,  crime,  disability,  or  disqualification, 
expressly  permitted  such  suspension  by  the  President  "in  his 
discretion,"  and  completely  abandoned  the  requirement  oblig 
ing  him  to  report  to  the  Senate  "the  evidence  and  reasons" 
for  his  action. 

With  these  modifications,  and  with  all  branches  of  the  gov 
ernment  in  political  harmony,  and  in  the  absence  of  partisan 


47 2  CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES. 

incentive  to  captious  obstruction,  the  law,  as  it  was  left  by  the 
amendment  of  1869,  was  much  less  destructive  of  Executive 
discretion.  And  yet  the  great  general  and  patriotic  citizen 
who,  on  the  4th  day  of  March,  1869,  assumed  the  duties  of 
Chief  Executive,  and  for  whose  freer  administration  of  his  high 
office  the  most  hateful  restraints  of  the  law  of  1867  were,  on 
the  5th  day  of  April,  1869,  removed,  mindful  of  his  obligation 
to  defend  and  protect  every  prerogative  of  his  great  trust,  and 
apprehensive  of  the  injury  threatened  the  public  service  in  the 
continued  operation  of  these  statutes  even  in  their  modified 
form,  in  his  first  message  to  Congress  advised  their  repeal  and 
set  forth  their  unconstitutional  character  and  hurtful  tendency 
in  the  following  language: 

It  may  be  well  to  mention  here  the  embarrassment  possible  to  arise 
from  leaving  on  the  statute  books  the  so-called  "  tenure-of-ofiice  acts"  and  to 
recommend  earnestly  their  total  repeal.  It  could  not  have  been  the  inten 
tion  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution,  when  providing  that  appointments 
made  by  the  President  should  receive  the  consent  of  the  Senate,  that  the 
latter  should  have  the  power  to  retain  in  office  persons  placed  there  by  Fed 
eral  appointment  against  the  will  of  the  President.  The  law  is  inconsistent 
with  a  faithful  and  efficient  administration  of  the  government.  "What  faith 
can  an  Executive  put  in  officials  forced  upon  him,  and  those,  too,  whom  he 
has  suspended  for  reason  ?  How  will  such  officials  be  likely  to  serve  an  ad 
ministration  which  they  know  does  not  trust  them  ? 

I  am  unable  to  state  whether  or  not  this  recommendation  for 
a  repeal  of  these  laws  has  been  since  repeated.  If  it  has  not, 
the  reason  can  probably  be  found  in  the  experience  which 
demonstrated  the  fact  that  the  necessities  of  the  political  situa 
tion  but  rarely  developed  their  vicious  character. 

And  so  it  happens  that,  after  an  existence  of  nearly  twenty 
years  of  almost  innocuous  desuetude,  these  laws  are  brought 
forth — apparently  the  repealed  as  well  as  the  unrepealed — and 
put  in  the  way  of  an  Executive  who  is  willing,  if  permitted, 
to  attempt  an  improvement  in  the  methods  of  administration. 

The  constitutionality  of  these  laws  is  by  no  means  admitted. 
But  why  should  the  provisions  of  the  repealed  law,  which 


CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES.  473 

required  specific  cause  for  suspension  and  a  report  to  the  Sen 
ate  of  "evidence  and  reasons,"  be  now,  in  effect,  applied  to 
the  present  Executive  instead  of  the  law,  afterward  passed, 
and  unrepealed,  which  distinctly  permits  suspensions  by  the 
President  "in  his  discretion,"  and  carefully  omits  the  require 
ment  that  "evidence  and  reasons  for  his  actions  in  the  case" 
shall  be  reported  to  the  Senate? 

The  requests  and  demands  which,  by  the  score,  have,  for 
nearly  three  months,  been  presented  to  the  different  Depart 
ments  of  the  government,  whatever  may  be  their  form,  have 
but  one  complexion.  They  assume  the  right  of  the  Senate  to 
sit  in  judgment  upon  the  exercise  of  my  exclusive  discretion 
and  executive  function,  for  which  I  am  solely  responsible  to 
the  people  from  whom  I  have  so  lately  received  the  sacred 
trust  of  office.  My  oath  to  support  and  defend  the  Constitu 
tion,  my  duty  to  the  people,  who  have  chosen  me  to  execute 
the  powers  of  their  great  office  and  not  to  relinquish  them,  and 
my  duty  to  the  Chief  Magistracy,  which  I  must  preserve  unim 
paired  in  all  its  dignity  and  vigor,  compel  me  to  refuse  com 
pliance  with  these  demands. 

To  the  end  that  the  service  may  be  improved,  the  Senate  is 
invited  to  the  fullest  scrutiny  of  the  persons  submitted  to  them 
for  public  office,  in  recognition  of  the  constitutional  power  of 
that  body  to  advise  and  consent  to  their  appointment.  I  shall 
continue,  as  I  have  thus  far  done,  to  furnish,  at  the  request  of 
the  confirming  body,  all  the  information  I  possess  touching  the 
fitness  of  the  nominees  placed  before  them  for  their  action, 
both  when  they  are  proposed  to  fill  vacancies  and  to  take  the 
place  of  suspended  officials.  Upon  a  refusal  to  confirm  I 
shall  not  assume  the  right  to  ask  the  reasons  for  the  action  of 
the  Senate  nor  question  its  determination.  I  cannot  think 
that  anything  more  is  required  to  secure  worthy  incumbents  in 
public  office  than  a  careful  and  independent  discharge  of  our 
respective  duties  within  their  well-defined  limits. 

Though  the  propriety  of  suspensions  might  be  better  assured 
if  the  action  of  the  President  was  subject  to  review  by  the 


474  CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES. 

Senate,  yet  if  the  Constitution  and  the  laws  have  placed  this 
responsibility  upon  the  executive  branch  of  the  government,  it 
should  not  be  divided  nor  the  discretion  which  it  involves 
relinquished. 

It  has  been  claimed  that  the  present  Executive  having 
pledged  himself  not  to  remove  officials  except  for  cause,  the 
fact  of  their  suspension  implies  such  misconduct  on  the  part  of 
a  suspended  official  as  injures  his  character  and  reputation, 
and  therefore  the  Senate  should  review  the  case  for  his  vindi 
cation. 

I  have  said  that  certain  officials  should  not,  in  my  opinion, 
be  removed  during  the  continuance  of  the  term  for  which  they 
were  appointed  solely  for  the  purpose  of  putting  in  their  place 
those  in  political  affiliation  with  the  appointing  power;  and 
this  declaration  was  immediately  followed  by  a  description  of 
offensive  partisanship  which  ought  not  to  entitle  those  in  whom 
it  was  exhibited  to  consideration.  It  is  not  apparent  how  an 
adherence  to  the  course  thus  announced  carries  with  it  the 
consequences  described.  If  in  any  degree  the  suggestion  is 
worthy  of  consideration,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  there  may  be 
a  defense  against  unjust  suspension  in  the  justice  of  the 
Executive. 

Every  pledge  which  I  have  made,  by  which  I  have  placed  a 
limitation  upon  my  exercise  of  executive  power,  has  been  faith 
fully  redeemed.  Of  course  the  pretense  is  not  put  forth  that 
no  mistakes  have  been  committed;  but  not  a  suspension  has 
been  made  except  it  appeared  to  my  satisfaction  that  the  pub 
lic  welfare  would  be  improved  thereby.  Many  applications  for 
suspension  have  been  denied,  and  the  adherence  to  the  rule 
laid  down  to  govern  my  action  as  to  such  suspensions  has 
caused  much  irritation  and  impatience  on  the  part  of  those 
who  have  insisted  upon  more  changes  in  the  offices. 

The  pledges  I  have  made  were  made  to  the  people,  and  to 
them  I  am  responsible  for  the  manner  in  which  they  have  been 
redeemed.  I  am  not  responsible  to  the  Senate,  and  I  am 


CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES.  475 

unwilling  to  submit  my  actions  and  official  conduct  to  them 
for  judgment. 

There  are  no  grounds  for  an  allegation  that  the  fear  of  being 
found  false  to  my  professions  influences  me  in  declining  to 
submit  to  the  demands  of  the  Senate.  I  have  not  constantly 
refused  to  suspend  officials,  and  thus  incurred  the  displeas 
ure  of  political  friends,  and  yet  willfully  broken  faith  with  the 
people  for  the  sake  of  being  false  to  them. 

Neither  the  discontent  of  party  friends  nor  the  allurements 
constantly  offered  of  confirmations  of  appointees  conditioned 
upon  the  avowal  that  suspensions  kave  been  made  on  party 
grounds  alone,  nor  the  threat  proposed  in  the  resolutions  now 
before  the  Senate  that  no  confirmation  will  be  made  unless 
the  demands  of  that  body  be  complied  with,  are  sufficient  to 
discourage  or  deter  me  from  following  in  the  way  which  I  am 
convinced  leads  to  better  government  for  the  people. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


III. 

Suggesting  Certain  Amendments  to  the  Oleomargarine  Act. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  August  2,  1886. 
To  THE  CONGRESS: 

I  have  this  day  approved  a  bill  originating  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  entitled,  "An  Act  defining  butter,  also  impos 
ing  a  tax  upon  and  regulating  the  manufacture,  sale,  importa 
tion,  and  exportation  of  oleomargarine." 

This  legislation  has  awakened  much  interest  among  the  peo 
ple  of  the  country,  and  earnest  argument  has  been  addressed 
to  the  Executive  for  the  purpose  of  influencing  his  action 
thereupon.  Many,  in  opposition,  have  urged  its  dangerous 
character  as  tending  to  break  down  the  boundaries  between 
the  proper  exercise  of  legislative  power  by  Federal  and  State 
authority;  many,  in  favor  of  the  enactment,  have  represented 
that  it  promised  great  advantages  to  a  large  portion  of  our 


4^6  CIIARACTERISTTC  MESSAGES. 

population  who  sadly  need  relief;  and  those,  on  both  sides  of 
the  question,  whose  advocacy  or  opposition  is  based  upon  no 
broader  foundation  than  local  or  personal  interest,  have  out 
numbered  all  the  others. 

This,  upon  its  face  and  in  its  main  features,  is  a  revenue  bill, 
and  was  first  introduced  in  the  House  of  Representatives, 
wherein  the  Constitution  declares  that  all  bills  for  raising 
revenue  shall  originate. 

The  Constitution  has  invested  Congress  with  a  very  wide 
legislative  discretion  both  as  to  the  necessity  of  taxation  and 
the  selection  of  the  objects  of  its  burdens.  And  though,  if  the 
question  was  presented  to  me  as  an  original  proposition,  I  might 
doubt  the  present  need  of  increased  taxation,  I  deem  it  my 
duty  in  this  instance  to  defer  to  the  judgment  of  the  legislative 
branch  of  the  government,  which  has  been  so  emphatically 
announced  in  both  Houses  of  Congress  upon  the  passage  of 
this  bill. 

Moreover,  those  who  desire  to  see  removed  the  weight  of 
taxation,  now  pressing  upon  the  people  from  other  directions, 
may  well  be  justified  in  the  hope  and  expectation  that  the 
selection  of  an  additional  subject  of  internal  taxation,  so  well 
able  to  bear  it,  will  in  consistency  be  followed  by  legislation 
relieving  our  citizens  from  other  revenue  burdens,  rendered  by 
the  passage  of  this  bill  even  more  than  heretofore  unnecessary 
and  needlessly  oppressive. 

It  has  been  urged  as  an  objection  to  this  measure  that,  while 
purporting  to  be  legislation  for  revenue,  its  real  purpose  is  to 
destroy,  by  the  use  of  the  taxing  power,  one  industry  of  our 
people  for  the  protection  and  benefit  of  another. 

If  entitled  to  indulge  in  such  a  suspicion,  as  a  basis  of 
official  action  in  this  case,  and  if  entirely  satisfied  that  the 
consequences  indicated  would  ensue,  I  should  doubtless  feel 
constrained  to  interpose  Executive  dissent. 

But  I  do  not  feel  called  upon  to  interpret  the  motives  of 
Congress  otherwise  than  by  the  apparent  character  of  the  bill 
which  has  been  presented  to  me,  and  I  am  convinced  that  the 


CH A  RA  C  7  'ERIS  TIC  MESS  A  GES.  477 

taxes  which  it  creates  cannot  possibly  destroy  the  open  and 
legitimate  manufacture  and  sale  of  the  thing  upon  which  it  is 
levied.  If  this  article  has  the  merit  which  its  friends  claim  for 
it,  and  if  the  people  of  the  land,  with  full  knowledge  of  its  real 
character,  desire  to  purchase  and  use  it,  the  taxes  exacted  by 
this  bill  will  permit  a  fair  profit  to  both  manufacturer  and 
dealer.  If  the  existence  of  the  commodity  taxed,  and  the 
profits  of  its  manufacture  and  sale,  depend-  upon  disposing  of  it 
to  the  people  for  something  else  which  it  deceitfully  imitates, 
the  entire  enterprise  is  a  fraud  and  not  an  industry;  and  if  it 
cannot  endure  the  exhibition  of  its  real  character  which  will  be 
effected  by  the  inspection,  supervision,  and  stamping  which 
this  bill  directs,  the  sooner  it  is  destroyed  the  better,  in  the 
interest  of  fair  dealing. 

Such  a  result  would  not  furnish  the  first  instance  in  the  his 
tory  of  legislation  in  which  a  revenue  bill  produced  a  benefit 
which  was  merely  incidental  to  its  main  purpose. 

There  is  certainly  no  industry  better  entitled  to  the  inci 
dental  advantages  which  may  follow  this  legislation  than  our 
farming  and  dairy  interests;  and  to  none  of  our  people  should 
they  be  less  begrudged  than  our  farmers  and  dairymen.  The 
present  depression  of  their  occupations,  the  hard,  steady,  and 
often  unremunerative  toil  which  such  occupations  exact,  and 
the  burdens  of  taxation  which  our  agriculturists  necessarily 
bear,  entitle  them  to  every  legitimate  consideration. 

Nor  should  there -be  opposition  to  the  incidental  effect  of 
this  legislation  on  the  part  of  those  who  profess  to  be  engaged 
honestly  and  fairly  in  the  manufacture  and  sale  of  a  wholesome 
and  valuable  article  of  food,  which  by  its  provisions  may  be 
subject  to  taxation.  As  long  as  their  business  is  carried  on 
under  cover  and  by  false  pretenses,  such  men  have  bad  com 
panions  in  those  whose  manufactures,  however  vile  and  harm 
ful,  take  their  place  without  challenge  with  the  better  sort,  in 
a  common  crusade  of  deceit  against  the  public.  But  if  this 
occupation  and  its  methods  are  forced  into  the  light, — and  all 
these  manufactures  must  thus  either  stand  upon  their  merits  or 


47*  CHARACTERISTIC  MESSAGES. 

fall — the  good  and  bad  must  soon  part  company,  and  the  fittest 
only  will  survive. 

Not  the  least  important  incident  related  to  this  legislation  is 
the  defense  afforded  to  the  consumer  against  the  fraudulent 
substitution  and  sale  of  an  imitation  for  a  genuine  article  of 
food,  of  very  general  household  use.  Notwithstanding  the 
immense  quantity  of  the  article  described  in  this  bill  which  is 
sold  to  the  people  for  their  consumption  as  food,  and  notwith 
standing  the  claim  made  that  its  manufacture  supplies  a  cheap 
substitute  for  butter,  I  venture  to  say  that  hardly  a  pound  ever 
entered  a  poor  man's  house  under  its  real  name  and  in  its  true 
character. 

While,  in  its  relation  to  an  article  of  this  description,  there 
should  be  no  governmental  regulation  of  what  the  citizen  shall 
eat,  it  is  certainly  not  a  cause  of  regret  if,  by  legislation  of  this 
character,  he  is  afforded  a  means  by  which  he  may  better  pro 
tect  himself  against  imposition  in  meeting  the  needs  and  wants 
of  his  daily  life. 

Having  entered  upon  this  legislation,  it  is  manifestly  a  duty 
to  render  it  as  effective  as  possible  in  the  accomplishment  of 
all  the  good  which  should  legitimately  follow  in  its  train. 

This  leads  to  the  suggestion  that  the  article  proposed  to  be 
taxed,  and  the  circumstances  which  subject  it  thereto,  should  be 
clearly  and  with  great  distinctness  defined  in  the  statute.  It 
seems  to  me  that  this  object  has  not  been  completely  attained 
in  the  phraseology  of  the  second  section  of  the  bill,  and  that 
question  may  well  arise  as  to  the  precise  condition  the  article 
to  be  taxed  must  assume  in  order  to  be  regarded  as  "made  in 
imitation  or  semblance  of  butter,  or,  when  so  made,  calculated 
or  intended  to  be  sold  as  butter  or  for  butter." 

The  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  sections  of  the  bill  in  my  opin 
ion  arc  in  danger  of  being  construed  as  an  interference  with 
the  police  power  of  the  States.  Not  being  entirely  satisfied  of 
the  unconstitutionally  of  these  provisions,  and  regarding  them 
as  not  being  so  connected  and  interwoven  with  the  other 
sections  as,  if  found  invalid,  to  vitiate  the  entire  measure,  I 


CHARACTERISTIC   MESSAGES.  479 

have  determined  to  commend  them  to  the  attention  of  the 
House  with  a  view  to  an  immediate  amendment  of  the  bill  if  it 
should  be  deemed  necessary,  and  if  it  is  practicable  at  this  late 
day  in  the  session  of  Congress. 

The  fact,  too,  that  the  bill  does  not  take  effect  by  its  terms 
until  ninety  days  have  elapsed  after  its  approval,  thus  leaving 
it  but  one  month  in  operation  before  the  next  session  of  Con 
gress,  when,  if  time  does  not  now  permit,  the  safety  and  effi 
ciency  of  the  measure  may  be  abundantly  protected  by  remedial 
legislative  action,  and  the  desire  to  see  realized  the  beneficial 
results  which  it  is  expected  will  immediately  follow  the  inau 
guration  of  this  legislation  have  had  their  influence  in  determin 
ing  my  official  action. 

The  considerations  which  have  been  referred  to  will,  1 
hope,  justify  this  communication  and  the  suggestions  which  it 
contains. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  XXL 

ESTIMATES   OF    PUBLIC    MEN. 

I. 

THE    PRINCIPLES    OF    THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 
I. 

(Letter  to  John  P.  Adams,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  September  12,  1890.) 
IT  SEEMS  but  a  very  short  time  ago  that  I  participated  in  the 
laying  of  the  cornerstone  of  the  building  now  ready  for  occu 
pancy,  and  I  recognize  in  the  vigor  with  which  it  has  been 
pushed  to  completion  the  most  gratifying  evidence  of  the  zeal 
and  sturdiness  of  your  Democratic  organization. 

The  Kings  County  Democracy  should  certainly  be  congrat 
ulated  upon  the  possession  of  such  beautiful  headquarters  in 
a  building  whose  name  suggests  the  true  Democratic  faith.  In 
the  Thomas  Jefferson  there  should  be  found  no  room  for 
counsels  in  the  least  regardless  of  the  value  of  pure  and  honest 
government,  or  lacking  in  sympathy  with  the  highest  and 
greatest  good  of  the  people. 

I  feel  that  1  can  wish  nothing  better  for  your  association 
than  that  their  new  home  may  be  long  continued  to  them, 
and  that  they  may  take  with  them  there  and  always  maintain 
those  principles  of  Jeffersonian  Democracy,  as  old  as  the 
Nation,  which,  if  steadfastly  upheld  and  honestly  applied,  are 
certain  to  insure  the  felicity  and  prosperity  of  our  country. 


j. 


(Letter  to  William  E.  Burnett,  Springfield,  O.,  February  3,  1891.) 
The  Democracy  of  Ohio  is  deserving  of  the  utmost  regard 
of    its    party   friends  everywhere    on   account    of    its    stead- 


ESTIMATES  OF  PUIU.1C  MEN.  481 

fastness  to  a  party  creed  and  loyalty.  This  reflection  but  adds 
to  my  perplexity,  as  I  see  insurmountable  obstacles  in  the  way 
of  my  meeting  those  who  will  gather  at  your  contemplated 
banquet. 

These  are  days  above  all  others  in  our  generation  when  the 
memory  of  Jefferson's  patriotism,  conservatism,  wisdom,  and 
devotion  to  everything  American  should  be  kept  warm  in  the 
hearts  and  minds  of  his  countrymen,  and  especially  of  his 
political  followers.  The  contemplation  of  these  things  should 
serve  to  check  every  tendency  to  follow  false  and  delusive 
lights,  and  to  tread  untried  and  unsafe  paths. 

It  is  most  fitting  and  useful,  therefore,  that  your  club,  which 
bears  the  name  of  this  illustrious  man,  should  properly  cele 
brate  every  anniversary  of  his  birth. 


3- 
(Letter  to  Dethlef  C.  Hansen,  Tacoma,  Wash.,  March  26,  1891.) 

It  would  afford  me  great  satisfaction  if  I  could  accept  your 
invitation  to  join  the  Democracy  of  the  State  of  Washington 
in  their  celebration  of  the  birthday  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  on 
the  ijth  day  of  April  next. 

It  seems  to  me  that  there  never  was  a  time  in  our  history 
when  the  American  people  could  with  so  much  profit  recall 
the  character  and  teachings  of  this  illustrious  man.  The  peril 
of  our  day  lies  in  an  inclination  to  disregard  the  virtue  of  patri 
otism — absolutely  necessary  to  the  success  of  free  institutions — 
and  the  acceptance  of  the  vicious  lessons  of  selfishness,  and  in 
an  ignoble  toleration  of  the  idea  that  the  operations  of  our 
government  may  be  used  as  aids  in  the  advancement  of  special 
interests. 

Jefferson  has  warned  us  that  these  things  are  all  opposed  to 
the  principles  upon  which  our  scheme  of  popular  rule  is 
founded.  He  has  admonished  us  that  the  requisites  of  success 
in  the  plan  of  government  which  we  exhibit  to  the  world  are 


482  KSTIMATKS   OF  PUBLIC  MEN. 

our  united  determination  to  reach  the  national  destiny  our  in 
stitutions  promise,  a  patriotic,  unselfish  care  of  every  interest 
affecting  the  general  prosperity  of  our  people,  and  the  scrupu 
lous  cultivation  and  preservation  of  that  genuine  Americanism 
which  is  considerate  of  all  our  conditions,  tolerant  of  all  our 
varied  interests,  and  free  from  unworthy  suspicion  or 
jealousy. 

It  follows  that,  if  there  are  dangerous  political  tendencies 
abroad  in  the  land,  they  should  not  be  found  among  those  who 
profess  the  faith  of  true  Democracy.  We,  who  acknowledge 
Jefferson  as  the  founder  of  our  party,  should  never  for  a  mo 
ment  discredit  the  wisdom  or  devotion  to  principle  of  our 
great  leader,  who  knew  so  well  the  essentials  of  our  coun 
try's  perpetuation  and  welfare,  nor  should  we  ever  doubt 
that  he  has  left  to  us  a  safe  guide  to  the  way  of  political 
duty. 


4- 
(Letter  to  E.  O.  Graves,  Seattle,  Wash.,  April  2,  1891.) 

I  very  much  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  accept  the  invitation 
thus  courteously  extended  to  me,  for  I  believe  that  those  who 
profess  the  political  faith  of  Thomas  Jefferson  cannot  too  often 
contemplate  his  life  and  services,  and  all  that  he  has  done  for 
our  country  and  for  the  American  name. 

Every  Democrat  should  be  proud  to  claim  that  the  services 
he  rendered  in  the  cause  of  freedom  and  humanity  were  ren 
dered  under  the  sanction  of  Democratic  principles.  Nor  should 
we  forget  that  the  honest  and  fearless  application  of  these 
principles  is  of  no  less  importance  now  than  when  our  great 
leader  announced  them. 

The  occasion  which  you  contemplate  should  not,  therefore, 
be  allowed  to  pass  without  leaving,  on  the  minds  of  those  who 
participate,  the  conviction  that,  as  followers  of  Thomas  Jeffer 
son,  they  assume  a  responsibility  to  their  fellow-countrymen 


ESTIMATES   OF  PUBLIC  MEN.  483 

which  exacts  not  only  loyalty  to  party  organization,  but  the 
intelligent  and  sturdy  advocacy  of  Democratic  doctrines  in 
their  purity  and  integrity. 

If  these  doctrines  are  fairly  and  frankly  taught,  we  need 
have  no  apprehension  that  the  absolute  reliance  upon  the  de 
liberate  thought  of  the  American  people,  which  Jefferson  in 
sisted  upon,  will  disappoint  us — either  as  members  of  the 
Democratic  party  or  as  patriotic  American  citizens. 


5- 

(Letter  to  Iroquois  Club,  Chicago,  March  25,  1892.) 
I  am  in  receipt  of  the  courteous  invitation  tendered  me  by 
the  Iroquois  Club,  of  Chicago,  to  attend  its  annual  banquet  in 
commemoration  of  the  birthday  of  Thomas  Jefferson  on  the 
2d  day  of  April.  The  fact  that  I  have  been  obliged  to  de 
cline  other  invitations  of  the  club  to  meet  its  members  and 
guests  on  similar  occasions  causes  me  especially  to  regret  that 
I  cannot  accept  this,  but  the  work  I  have  to  do  and  the  en 
gagements  I  have  made  enforce  another  declination. 

A  contemplation  of  Jefferson's  life  and  services,  and  a  review 
of  his  political  expressions,  cannot  fail  to  be  improving  and 
profitable  to  the  Democracy  of  the  present  day.  If  entered 
upon  in  a  proper  spirit,  Jefferson's  teachings  ought  to  increase 
the  tenacity  of  our  hold  upon  the  simple  truths  which  made 
up  his  political  faith,  and  should  satisfy  us  with  the  standards 
of  Democracy  which  he  established.  In  these  days,  when  the 
Democratic  party  is  beset  with  temptation,  and  when  on  every 
side  false  lights  are  set  up  for  its  destruction,  its  safety  will  be 
found  in  steadfastly  and  trustingly  following  the  way  which 
principle  points  out  and  shunning  the  allurements  of  temporary 
expedients,  and  resisting  the  seductions  of  popular  miscon 
ceptions. 


484  ESTIMATES   OE  PUBLIC  MEN. 

II. 

THE    CHARACTER    OF    ANDREW    JACKSON. 
1. 

(Letter  to  Allen  G.  Thurman,  January  4,  1886.) 

I  acknowledge  with  thanks  the  receipt  of  an  invitation  to  be 
present  at  the  annual  reunion  of  the  Jackson  Club,  of  the  city 
of  Columbus,  on  the  evening  of  the  8th  inst. 

My  official  duties  here  will  prevent  my  acceptance  of  the 
invitation  so  kindly  tendered,  and  I  beg  to  assure  the  Club 
that  the  objects  and  purposes  of  the  reunion,  which  arc- 
expressed  in  the  note  of  the  committee,  meet  with  my  cordial 
and  sincere  approval. 

I  should  be  most  pleased  to  be  one  of  those  who,  on  that 
occasion,  will  congratulate  the  friends  of  good  government  on 
the  success  of  the  Democratic  party,  for  I  believe  that  the 
application  of  the  true  and  pure  principles  of  that  political 
faith  must  result  in  the  welfare  of  the  country. 

It  is  also  proposed,  I  learn,  to  consult  together  as  to  the 
manner  in  which  the  accomplishment  of  "  the  greatest  good  to 
our  people  "  can  best  be  aided  and  assisted.  No  higher  or 
more  sacred  mission  was  ever  intrusted  to  a  party  organization, 
and  I  am  convinced  that  it  will  be  honestly  and  faithfully  per 
formed  by  a  close  sympathy  with  the  people  in  their  wants  and 
needs,  by  a  patriotic  endeavor  to  quicken  their  love  and  devo 
tion  for  American  institutions,  and  by  an  earnest  effort  to 
enlarge  their  apprehensions  and  realizations  of  the  benefits 
which  the  wise  and  unselfish  administration  of  a  free  govern 
ment  will  secure  to  them. 


(Letter  to  C.  Kinney  Smith,  New  York,  December  26,  1890.) 
It  is  with  much  disappointment  and  regret  that  I  feel  obliged 
to  forego,  on  account  of  another  engagement,  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  the  lUjsiness  Men's  Association  at  its  rvk't>ration  p.f 


ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN.  485 

the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  on  the  evening  of  the  8th  of  Janu 
ary  next. 

I  hope  the  time  will  never  come  when  the  day  your  club 
proposes  to  celebrate  will  be  neglected  by  the  Democracy  of 
our  land.  It  seems  to  me  that  you  appropriately  call  it  "  Jack 
son's  Day,"  and  I  wish  that  designation  might  become  universal 
among  those  who  love  the  Democratic  faith  and  believe  in  its 
fearless  advocacy. 

Especially  at  this  particular  time  ought  the  celebration  of 
this  day  to  be  enthusiastic.  The  fact  that  our  party  is  united 
in  its  devotion  to  the  professions  and  doctrines  which  have 
made  it  great,  for  which  Jackson  stood,  and  in  the  inspiration 
of  which  he  led  the  Democracy  of  his  time  to  victory,  is  enough 
to  furnish  abundant  cause  for  congratulation.  When  we  add 
to  this  the  fact  that  we  are  permitted  to  celebrate  on  the 
"  Jackson's  Day  "  now  at  hand  a  recent  sweeping  triumph  of 
Democratic  principle,  we  are  justified  in  the  indulgence  of 
unrestrained  *and  hearty  rejoicing. 


3- 

(Letter  to  Samuel  Gustine  Thompson,  Philadelphia,  January  3,  1892.) 
I  hope  the  Democracy  of  the  country  will  generally  observe 
this  day,  and  that  their  observance  will  serve  to  stimulate  a 
real  genuine  Democratic  sentiment,  which  recognizes  the 
responsibility  of  our  party  to  the  people,  and  the  duty  we  owe 
to  those  who  have  reposed  confidence  in  our  professions.  We 
will  thus  be  constrained  to  a  steady  and  persistent  advocacy 
of  the  principles  which  are  concededly  Democratic,  and  will 
be  prepared  to  resist  the  temptation  to  attempt  to  win  party 
supremacy  by  the  support  of  theories  challenged  as  to  their 
Democratic  character,  and  certainly  dangerous  and  distracting 
to  the  harmony  of  our  party. 

Temporary  shifts  and  reckless  expedients  do  not  accord  with 
the  nature  and  policy  of  true  Democracy.     Its  best  hope  and 


486  ESTIMATES  OF  PU1UJC  MEN. 

reliance  have  always  been  and  must  continue  to  be  in  a  constant 
adherence  to  its  acknowledged  principles  and  a  plain  and  per 
sistent  presentation  of  those  principles  to  the  intelligence  and 
thoughtfulness  of  the  American  people. 


III. 

TRIBUTES    TO    SAMUEL    J.    TILDEN. 
I. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  February  2,  1888. 
WILLIAM  A.  FUREY,  ESQ.,  Chairman,  etc. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  acknowledge  with  sincere  thanks  the  in 
vitation  extended  to  me,  on  behalf  of  the  Kings  County  Demo 
cratic  Club,  to  attend  a  banquet  to  be  given  in  the  City  of 
Brooklyn  on  the  9th  instant,  in  commemoration  of  the  birth 
day  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden. 

I  indulge,  with  the  utmost  pleasure  and  satisfaction,  the  belief 
that  this  invitation  is  not  a  mere  formal  compliment  tendered 
to  me  in  fulfillment  of  customary  propriety,  but  that  it  is  an 
additional  evidence  of  the  genuine  kindness  of  the  people  and 
my  political  friends  of  Brooklyn  and  Kings  County,  which  has 
more  than  once  during  my  public  life  been  heartily  manifested. 

Entertaining  this  belief,  I  know  that  its  expression  will  make 
it  unnecessary  for  me  to  assure  you  that  I  would  gladly  accept 
your  invitation  if  it  were  possible.  I  am  not  only  certain  that 
at  your  banquet  I  should  be  among  true  and  steadfast  friends, 
but  that  the  occasion  and  its  prevailing  spirit  cannot  fail  to  in 
spire  every  participant  with  new  strength  and  increased  patri 
otism  and  courage. 

The  birthday  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden  is  fittingly  celebrated  by 
the  Democracy  of  Kings  County,  for  he  found  there  in  all  his 
clforts  to  reform  the  public  service  and  to  reinstate  his  party  in 
the  confidence  of  the  American  people  firm  and  stanch  friends, 
never  wavering  in  their  willing  and  effective  support.  Let 


ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN.  487 

these  friends  now  remind  all  their  fellow-citizens  of  the  patri 
otic  and  useful  career  of  their  honored  and  trusted  leader,  and 
let  everyone  professing  his  political  faith  proclaim  the  value 
of  his  teachings.  He  taught  the  limitation  of  Federal  power 
under  the  Constitution,  the  absolute  necessity  of  public  econ 
omy,  the  safety  of  a  sound  currency,  honesty  in  public  place, 
the  responsibility  of  public  servants  to  the  people,  care  for 
those  who  toil  with  their  hands,  a  proper  limitation  of  corpo 
rate  privileges  and  a  reform  in  the  Civil  Service. 

His  was  true  Democracy.  It  led  him  to  meet  boldly  every 
public  issue  as  it  rose.  With  his  conception  of  political  duty, 
he  thought  it  never  too  early  and  never  too  late  to  give  battle 
to  vicious  doctrines  and  corrupt  practices.  He  believed  that 
pure  and  sound  Democracy  flourished  and  grew  in  open,  bold, 
and  honest  championship  of  the  interests  of  the  people,  and 
that  it  but  feebly  lived  upon  deceit,  false  pretenses,  and  fear. 

And  he  was  right.  His  success  proved  him  right,  and 
proved,  too,  that  the  American  people  appreciate  a  courageous 
struggle  in  their  defense. 

I  should  certainly  join  you  in  recalling  the  virtues  and 
achievements  of  this  illustrious  Democrat,  on  the  anniversary  of 
his  birth,  if,  in  the  arrangement  of  the  social  events  connected 
with  my  official  life,  an  important  one  had  not  been  appointed 
to  take  place  on  the  evening  of  your  banquet.  This  neces 
sarily  detains  me  here. 

Hoping  that  your  celebration  will  be  very  successful  and  full 
of  profitable  enjoyment, 

I  am, 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER   CLEVELAND. 


(Letter  to  the  Grey  stone  Club,  February,  1890.) 

It  seems  to  me  that -the  celebration  of  that  day  should  give 
rise  to  inspiring  thoughts  in  the  minds  of  all  true  Democrats 
and  stimulate  them  in  their  efforts  for  reform  and  their  insist- 


488  ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIC 

ence  upon  better  care  for  the  interests  of  the  people.  The 
faith  of  Mr.  Tilden  in  the  Democratic  party  is  vindicated  by 
the  manner  in  which  it  has  rushed  to  the  front  in  the  struggle 
for  the  accomplishment  of  more  valuable,  practical  results  than 
the  loaves  and  fishes  of  party.  It  ought  to  delight  every 
member  of  the  party  to  see  how  readily  and  how  eagerly  it 
seized  upon  a  political  principle  when  it  was  presented,  and  how 
naturally  and  easily  it  espoused,  in  discussing  it,  the  cause  of  the 
people,  instead  of  the  selfish  and  sordid  side  of  the  question. 
After  all,  this  is  but  being  true  to  the  Democratic  faith  and 
profession.  No  member  of  the  party  who  appreciates  the 
advantage  of  honesty  and  consistency,  and  who  fairly  values 
the  constantly  growing  acceptance  of  our  principles,  can  fail  to 
congratulate  himself  upon  his  right  to  a  place  in  the  brother 
hood  to  which  Jefferson  and  Jackson  and  Tilden  belonged. 


(Letter  to  A.  B.  McKinley,  Denver,  Col.,  February  5,  1892.) 
This  is  a  most  excellent  and  appropriate  time  to  recall  the 
virtues  and  attributes  of  Samuel  J.  Tilden,  the  late  great  leader 
of  the  Democracy  of  the  land.  In  these  days  our  party  may 
remember  with  extreme  profit  his  pure  patriotism,  his  ambition 
permeated  with  a  desire  for  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-country 
men,  his  splendid  organizing  ability,  stimulated  by  his  love  of 
country  and  untainted  with  ignoble  motives,  his  unyielding 
resistance  to  all  that  was  undemocratic  and  unsafe,  and  his 
stubborn  insistence  upon  everything  which  had  the  clear  sanc 
tion  of  party  principles.  These  characteristics,  combined  with 
his  love  for  the  people  and  his  unfaltering  trust  in  their  intelli 
gence  and  fair-mindedness,  made  him  a  great  Democrat,  and  we 
cannot  go  amiss  if  we  accept  him  as  our  political  example. 

I  hope  the  banquet  contemplated  by  your  club  will  be  an 
occasion  full  of  invigoration  to  those  who,  in  the  celebration  of 
the  pth  of  February,  demonstrate  their  devotion  to  the  political 


ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN.  4^9 

honesty  and  sincerity  which  characterized  Samuel  J.  Tilden, 
and  that  those  who  are  fortunate  enough  to  participate  will  see 
plainer  than  ever  their  duty  and  mission  in  resistance  within 
their  party  to  all  that  is  not  safely  and  surely  in  accord  with 
Democratic  doctrine  and  in  the  bold  advocacy,  at  all  times  and 
in  all  places,  of  the  saving  qualities  of  the  true  Democratic 
faith. 


IV. 

DEATH  OF  GENERAL  U.  S.  GRANT. 

(Presidential  Proclamation,  July  23,  1885.) 

The  President  of  the  United  States  has  just  received  the  sad 
tidings  of  the  death  of  that  illustrious  citizen  and  ex-President 
of  the  United  States,  General  Ulysses  S.  Grant,  at  Mount 
McGregor,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  to  which  place  he  had 
lately  been  removed  in  the  endeavor  to  prolong  his  life. 

In  making  this  announcement  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  the  President  is  impressed  with  the  magnitude  of  the 
public  loss  of  a  great  military  leader,  who  was,  in  the  hour  of 
victory,  magnanimous  ;  amid  disaster,  serene  and  self-sustained; 
who,  in  every  station,  whether  as  a  soldier,  or  as  a  Chief  Magis 
trate,  twice  called  to  power  by  his  fellow-countrymen,  trod 
unswervingly  the  pathway  of  duty,  undeterred  by  doubts, 
single-minded,  and  straightforward. 

The  entire  country  has  witnessed  with  deep  emotipn  his  pro 
longed  and  patient  struggle  with  painful  disease,  and  has 
watched  by  his  couch  of  suffering  with  tearful  sympathy. 

The  destined  end  has  come  at  last,  and  his  spirit  has  re 
turned  to  the  Creator  who  sent  it  forth. 

The  great  heart  of  the  nation,  that  followed  him  when  living 
with  love  and  pride,  bows  now  in  sorrow  above  him  dead,  ten 
derly  mindful  of  his  virtues,  his  great  patriotic  services,  and  of 
the  loss  occasioned  by  his  death. 


49°  ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN. 

V. 

VICE-PRESIDENT   THOMAS    A.    HENDRICKS. 
I. 

(Opening  Sentence  of  First  Annual  Message,  December,  1885.) 
Your  assembling  is  clouded  by  a  sense  of  public  bereave 
ment  caused  by  the  recent  and  sudden  death  of  Thomas  A. 
Hendricks,  Vice  President  of  the  United  States.  His  dis 
tinguished  public  services,  his  complete  integrity  and  devotion 
to  every  duty,  and  his  personal  virtues  will  find  honorable 
record  in  his  country's  history. 

Ample  and  repeated  proofs  of  the  esteem  and  confidence  in 
which  he  was  held  by  his  fellow-countrymen  were  manifested 
by  his  election  to  offices  of  the  most  important  trust  and  highest 
dignity  ;  and  at  length,  full  of  years  and  honors,  he  has  been 
laid  at  rest  amid  universal  sorrow  and  benediction. 


2. 

(To  John  A.  Ilolman,  Indianapolis,  Secretary  of  the  Monument  Committee.) 

MARION,  MASS.,  June  18,  1890. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  acknowledge  with  thanks  the  invitation  I  have  just  received 
to  be  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  monument  to  the  memory 
of  the  late  Thomas  A.  Hendricks,  on  the  ist  day  of  July  next. 

It  is  useless,  I  hope,  to  assure  you  of  the  satisfaction  it  would 
afford  me  to  testify  my  respect  and  affection  for  your  dis 
tinguished  fellow-townsman  by  joining  those  who  will  gather 
to  honor  his  memory  on  the  occasion  you  contemplate.  His 
eminent  public  service,  and  his  faithful  discharge  of  many  and 
important  official  duties,  render  the  commemoration  of  his 
public  and  private  virtues  most  fitting  and  proper.  I  sincerely 
regret  that  a  positive  engagement,  for  the  day  appointed  for  the 
unveiling  of  the  monument  erected  to  his  memory,  makes  it 
impossible  for  me  to  accept  your  invitation. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN.  49 l 

VI. 

THE  DEATH  OF  GENERAL  HANCOCK. 

(Executive  Order,  February  g,  1886.) 

Tidings  of  the  death  of  Winfield  Scott  Hancock,  the  senior 
Major-General  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States,  have  just 
been  received. 

A  patriotic  and  valiant  defender  of  his  country  ;  an  able  and 
heroic  soldier  ;  a  spotless  and  accomplished  gentleman — 
crowned  alike  with  the  laurels  of  military  renown  and  the 
highest  tribute  of  his  fellow-countrymen  to  his  worth  as  a 
citizen — he  has  gone  to  his  reward. 

It  is  fitting  that  every  mark  of  public  respect  should  be  paid 
to  his  memory.  Therefore  it  is  now  ordered  by  the  President 
that  the  national  flag  be  displayed  at  half-mast  upon  all  the 
buildings  of  the  Executive  Departments  in  this  city  until  after 
his  funeral  shall  have  taken  place. 


VI  I. 

EX-PRESIDENT    CHESTER    A.     ARTHUR. 

(Executive  Proclamation,  November  18,  1886.) 

It  is  my  painful  duty  to  announce  the  death  of  Chester  Alan 
Arthur,  lately  the  President  of  the  United  States,  which  oc 
curred  after  an  illness  of  long  duration,  at  an  early  hour  this 
morning,  at  his  residence  in  the  city  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Arthur  was  called  to  the  chair  of  Chief  Magistrate  of 
the  nation  by  a  tragedy  which  cast  its  shadow  over  the  entire 
government. 

His  assumption  of  the  grave  duties  was  marked  by  an  evident 
and  conscientious  sense  of  his  responsibilities,  and  an  earnest 
desire  to  meet  them  in  a  patriotic  and  benevolent  spirit. 

With  dignity  and  ability  he  sustained  the  important  duties 
of  his  station,  and  the  reputation  of  his  personal  worth,  con 
spicuous  graciousness,  and  patriotic  fidelity  will  long  be 
cherished  by  his  fellow-countrymen. 


49 2  ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN. 

VIII. 
THE  CAREER  OF  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  I).  C.,  May  22,  1888. 
MY  DEAR  MRS.  BEECHER  : 

I  have  been  asked  to  furnish  a  contribution  to  a  proposed 
memorial  of  your  late  husband. 

While  [  am  by  no  means  certain  that  anything  I  might  pre 
pare  would  be  worthy  of  a  place  among  the  eloquent  and 
beautiful  tributes  which  are  sure  to  be  presented,  this  request 
spurs  to  action  my  desire  and  intention  to  express  to  you, 
more  fully  than  I  have  yet  done,  my  sympathy  in  your  afflic 
tion  and  my  appreciation  of  my  own  and  the  country's  loss  in 
the  death  of  Mr.  Beecher. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago  I  repeatedly  enjoyed  the  oppor 
tunity  of  hearing  him  in  his  own  pulpit.  His  warm  utterances, 
and  the  earnest  interest  he  displayed  in  the  practical  things  re 
lated  to  useful  living,  the  hopes  he  inspired,  and  the  manner  in 
which  he  relieved  the  precepts  of  Christianity  from  gloom  and 
cheerlessness,  made  me  feel  that,  though  a  stranger,  he  was 
my  friend.  Many  years  afterward  we  came  to  know  each 
other  ;  and  since  that  time  my  belief  in  his  friendship,  based 
upon  acquaintance  and  personal  contact,  has  been  to  me  a 
source  of  the  greatest  satisfaction. 

His  goodness  and  kindness  of  heart,  so  far  as  they  were 
manifested  in  his  personal  life  and  in  his  home,  are  sacred  to 
you  and  to  your  grief  ;  but,  so  far  as  they  gave  color  and  direc 
tion  to  his  teachings  and  opinions,  they  are  proper  subjects  for 
gratitude  and  congratulation  on  the  part  of  every  American 
citizen.  They  caused  him  to  take  the  side  of  the  common 
people  in  every  discussion.  He  loved  his  fellows  in  their 
homes  ;  he  rejoiced  in  their  contentment  and  comfort,  and 
sympathized  with  them  in  their  daily  hardships  and  trials. 
As  their  champion  he  advocated  in  all  things  the  utmost  reg- 
ubted  and  wholesome  liberty  and  freedom.  His  sublime  faith 


ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN.  493 

in  the  success  of  popular  government  led  him  to  trust  the 
people,  and  to  treat  their  errors  and  misconceptions  with  gen 
erous  toleration.  An  honorable  pride  in  American  citizenship, 
when  guided  by  the  teachings  of  religion,  he  believed  to  be  a 
sure  guarantee  of  a  splendid  national  destiny.  I  never  met 
him  without  gaining  something  from  his  broad  views  and  wise 
reflectkms. 

Your  personal  affliction  in  his  death  stands  alone,  in  its  mag 
nitude  and  depth.  But  thousands  wish  that  their  sense  of  loss 
might  temper  your  grief,  and  that  they,  by  sharing  your  sor 
row,  might  lighten  it. 

Such  kindly  assurances,  and  your  realization  of  the  high  and 
sacred  mission  accomplished  in  your  husband's  useful  life,  fur 
nish  all  this  world  can  supply  of  comfort  ;  but  your  faith  and 
piety  will  not  fail  to  lead  you  to  a  higher  and  better  source  of 
consolation. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


IX. 

DEATH  OF  GENERAL  P.  H.  SHERIDAN. 
I. 

(Special  Message  to  Congress,  August  6,  1888.) 

It  becomes  my  painful  duty  to  announce  to  the  Congress  and 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States  the  death  of  Philip  H. 
Sheridan,  General  of  the  Army,  which  occurred  at  a  late  hour 
last  night  at  his  summer  home,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts. 
The  death  of  this  valiant  soldier  and  patriotic  son  of  the  repub 
lic,  though  his  long  illness  has  been  regarded  with  anxiety,  has 
nevertheless  shocked  the  country  and  caused  universal  grief. 

He  had  established  for  himself  a  stronghold  in  the  hearts  of 
his  f«llow-countrymen,  who  soon  caught  the  true  meaning  and 
purpose  of  his  soldierly  devotion  and  heroic  temper.  His  in 
trepid  courage,  his  steadfast  patriotism,  and  the  generosity  of 


494  ESTIMATES  OF  PUBLIC  MEN. 

his  nature  inspired  with  peculiar  warmth  the  admiration  of  all 
the  people.  Above  his  grave  affection  for  the  man  and  pride 
in  his  achievements  will  struggle  for  mastery,  and  too  much 
honor  cannot  be  accorded  to  one  who  was  so  richly  endowed 
with  all  the  qualities  which  make  his  death  a  national  loss. 


2. 


(Paragraph  in  the  Fourth  Annual  Message,  December,  1888.) 
The  death  of  General  Sheridan  in  August  last  was  a  national 
affliction.  The  Army  then  lost  the  grandest  of  its  chiefs. 
The  country  lost  a  brave  and  experienced  soldier,  a  wise  and 
discreet  counselor,  and  a  modest  and  sensible  man.  Those 
who,  in  any  manner,  came  within  the  range  of  his  personal  as 
sociation  will  never  fail  to  pay  deserved  and  willing  homage 
to  his  greatness  and  the  glory  of  his  career  ;  but  they  will 
cherish  with  more  tender  sensibility  the  loving  memory  of  his 
simple,  generous,  and  considerate  nature. 


X. 

THE   CHARACTER   OF   SAMUEL    S.    COX. 

(Speech  as  Presiding  Officer  Over  Memorial   Meeting  in  the  Cooper  Union, 
October  9,  1889.) 

It  is  peculiarly  fit  and  proper  that  among  the  tributes  paid  to 
the  worth  and  usefulness  of  Samuel  S.Cox  the  most  hearty  and  sin 
cere  should  flow  from  the  hearts  of  his  Congressional  constituents. 
These  he  served  faithfully  and  well  ;  and  they  were  honored 
by  the  honor  of  his  life.  It  was  as  their  chosen  public  servant 
that  he  gathered  fame,  and  exhibited  to  the  entire  country  the 
strength  and  the  brightness  of  true  American  statesmanship. 
It  was  while  he  still  served  them  that  he  died.  All  his  fellow- 
citizens  mourn  his  death,  and  speak  in  praise  of  his  character 
and  his  achievements  in  public  life  ;  but  his  constituents  may 
well  feel  that  the  affliction  of  his  death  is  nearer  to  them  than 


EST1MA  TES   OF  PUBLIC  .MEN.  495 

to  others,  by  so  much  that  they  are  entitled  to  a  greater  share 
of  pride  in  all  that  he  wrought. 

I  should  not  suit  the  part  allotted  to  me  on  this  occasion  if  I 
were  to  speak  at  length  of  the  many  traits  of  character  within 
my  personal  knowledge  that  made  your  friend  and  mine  the 
wise  and  efficient  legislator,  the  useful  and  patriotic  citizen, 
and  the  kind  and  generous  man.  These  things  constitute  a 
theme  upon  which  his  fellow-countrymen  love  to  dwell,  and 
they  will  be  presented  to  you  to-night  in  more  eloquent  terms 
than  I  can  command. 

I  shall  not,  however,  forbear  mentioning  the  fact  that  your 
representative,  in  all  his  public  career,  and  in  his  relations  to 
legislation,  was  never  actuated  by  a  corrupt  or  selfish  interest. 
His  zeal  was  born  of  public  spirit,  and  the  motive  of  his  labor 
was  the  public  good.  He  was  never  found  among  those  who 
cloak  their  efforts  for  personal  gain  and  advantage  beneath 
the  disguise  of  disinterested  activity  for  the  welfare  of  the 
people. 

These  are  pleasant  things  for  his  friends  to  remember  to 
night,  and  they  are  without  doubt  the  things  upon  which  rest 
the  greatest  share  of  the  honor  and  respect  which  his  memory 
exacts  from  his  fellow-citizens. 

But  while  we  thus  contemplate  the  value  of  unselfish  public 
usefulness,  we  cannot  restrain  a  reflection  which  has  a  somber 
coloring.  What  is  the  condition  of  the  times  when  we  may 
justly  and  fairly  exalt  the  memory  of  a  deceased  public  servant 
because  he  was  true  and  honest  and  faithful  to  his  trust  ?  Are  we 
maintaining  a  safe  standard  of  public  duty  when  the  existence  of 
these  virtues,  instead  of  being  general,  are  exceptional  enough 
to  cause  congratulation  ?  All  public  servants  should  be  as 
true  and  honest  and  faithful  as  the  man  whom  we  mourn  to 
night. 

I  beg  you  to  take  home  with  you  among  the  reflections  which 
this  occasion  shall  awaken,  an  appreciation  of  the  truth  that 
if  we  are  to  secure  for  ourselves  all  the  blessings  of  our  free 
institutions  we  must  better  apprehend  the  interest  we  have  at 


496  ESTIMATES   OF  PUBLIC  MEN. 

stake  in  their  scrupulous  maintenance,  and  must  exact  of 
those  whom  we  trust  in  public  office  a  more  rigid  adherence  to 
the  demands  of  public  duty. 

I  congratulate  you  and  myself  upon  the  fact  that  we  are  to 
be  addressed  to-night  by  one  whose  eloquence  and  ability,  as 
well  as  his  warm  friendship  for  Mr.  Cox,  eminently  fit  him  to 
be  the  orator  of  the  occasion. 


XI. 

A    TRIBUTE   TO   WILLIAM    L.   SCOTT. 

(Written  for  the  Erie  [Pa.]  Herald,  of  September  26,  1891.) 
My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Scott  dates  no  further  back  than 
his  prominence  in  public  life.  That  acquaintance,  however, 
rapidly  grew  to  a  close  intimacy,  which  was  only  interrupted 
by  his  death.  I  learned  to  love  him  for  his  sincerity  and  for 
his  steadfastness  in  his  relations  to  his  friends.  His  preference 
for  people  was  based  upon  something  he  saw  in  them  of  sturdy 
usefulness,  and  upon  qualities  of  independent  strength  that 
commanded  his  respect;  and,  having  once  selected  a  friend,  he 
remained  a  friend  in  all  circumstances  and  without  a  shadow 
of  turning. 

But  there  was  another  phase  of  his  character  which  should 
endear  his  memory  not  only  to  his  personal  friends  but  to  every 
true  American.  As  a  public  servant  he  was  patriotic,  disinter 
ested,  honest,  and  sincere.  As  a  member  of  Congress  he  spent 
his  efforts  and  his  thought  in  advancing  those  measures  and 
objects  which  he  deemed  for  the  good  of  the  entire  country, 
and  he  never  belittled  his  position,  nor  diminished  his  useful 
ness  by  seeking  to  accomplish  legislation  which  had  relation  to 
his  own  benefits  or  to  interests  merely  local  and  circumscribed. 
It  was  certainly  true  of  him  that,  having  determined  that  a  cer 
tain  course  of  conduct  led  to  the  promotion  of  the  public  good, 
his  private  interests  and  all  personal  considerations  were  §et 
aside  as  he  followed  in  the  way  of  public  duty. 


ESTIMATES   OF  PUBLIC  MEN.  497 

If  his  life  had  only  been  valuable  for  the  example  he  set  for 
the  faithful  performance  of  the  trust  the  people  repose  in  their 
public  servants,  he  should  be  remembered  with  gratitude  and 
affection,  and,  when  we  recall  his  other  traits  of  mind  and  heart, 
those  who  loved  him  cannot  fail  to  be  comforted  by  the  precious 
memories  he  has  left  to  them. 


XII. 

THE   CHARACTER    OF   CHARLES    STEWART   PARNELL. 

No.  816  MADISON  AVENUE, 

November  n,  1891. 
JOHN  MCCONVILL,  ESQ.,  Chairman,  etc. 

DEAR  SIR  :  I  am  a  stanch  believer  in  the  doctrine  of  home 
rule,  and  have  not  failed  to  appreciate  the  labors  in  the  cause, 
of  the  man  whose  services  you  propose  to  commemorate. 

For  what  he  accomplished  and  sought  to  accomplish  for 
home  rule,  he  deserves  to  be  honored  by  all  those  who  love 
a  free  and  representative  government,  but  his  aim  and  purposes 
had  their  rise  so  completely  in  patriotism,  and  his  unselfish 
love  for  his  countrymen  was  so  conspicuous  and  disinterested, 
that  the  reverence  and  devotion  due  to  the  memory  of  a 
patriot  must  always  be  associated  with  his  name. 

The  influence  of  his   example  surely  ought  -not  to   be  lost 
upon  those  who  take  up  his  work,  to  which  he  so  thoroughly 
consecrated  all  his  efforts  and  aspirations. 
Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE  MAINTENANCE  OF  NATIONAL  HONOR. 
I. 

To  the  President  of  the  American  Fishery  Union. 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  April  7,  1887. 

GEORGE  STEELE,   ESQ.,  President  American  Fishery  Union,  and 
others,  Gloucester,  Mass. 

GENTLEMEN  :  I  have  received  your  letter  lately  addressed 
to  me,  and  have  given  full  consideration  to  the  expression  of  the 
views  and  wishes  therein  contained,  in  relation  to  the  existing 
differences  between  the  governments  of  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States,  growing  out  of  the  refusal  to  award  to  our 
citizens,  engaged  in  fishing  enterprises,  the  privileges  to  which 
they  are  entitled,  either  under  treaty  stipulations  or  the  guar 
antees  of  international  comity  and  neighborly  concession. 

I  sincerely  trust  the  apprehension  you  express,  of  unjust  and 
unfriendly  treatment  of  American  fishermen  lawfully  found  in 
Canadian  waters,  will  not  be  realized.  But  if  such  apprehension 
should  prove  to  be  well  founded,  I  earnestly  hope  that  no  fault 
or  inconsiderate  action  of  any  of  our  citizens  will  in  the  least 
weaken  the  just  position  of  our  government,  or  deprive  us  of 
the  universal  sympathy  and  support  to  which  we  should  be 
entitled. 

The  action  of  this  administration  since  June,  1885,  when  the 
fishing  articles  of  the  treaty  of  1871  were  terminated,  under 
the  notification  which  had  two  years  before  been  given  to  our 
government,  has  been  fully  disclosed  by  the  correspondence 
between  the  representatives  and  the  appropriate  departments 

498 


THE  MAINTENANCE   OF  NATIONAL   HONOR.        499 

of  the  respective  governments,  with  which  1  am  apprised 
by  your  letter  you  are  entirely  familiar.  An  examination 
of  this  correspondence  has  doubtless  satisfied  you  that  in  no 
case  have  the  rights  or  privileges  of  American  fishermen  been 
overlooked  or  neglected,  but  that,  on  the  contrary  they  have 
been  sedulously  insisted  upon  and  cared  for  by  every  means 
within  the  control  of  the  Executive  branch  of  the  govern 
ment. 

The  Act  of  Congress  approved  March  3,  1887,  authorizing 
a  course  of  retaliation  through  Executive  action,  in  the  event  of 
a  continuance  on  the  part  of  the  British  American  authorities 
of  unfriendly  conduct  and  treaty  violations  affecting  American 
fishermen,  has  devolved  upon  the  President  of  the  United 
States  exceedingly  grave  and  solemn  responsibilities,  compre 
hending  highly  important  consequences  to  our  national  charac 
ter  and  dignity,  and"  involving  extremely  valuable  commercial 
intercourse  between  the  British  Possessions  in  North  America 
and  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

I  understand  the  main  purpose  of  your  letter  is  to  suggest 
that,  in  case  recourse  to  the  retaliatory  measures  authorized  by 
this  Act  should  be  invited  by  unjust  treatment  of  our  fishermen 
in  the  future,  the  object  of  such  retaliation  might  be  fully 
accomplished  by  "  prohibiting  Canadian-caught  fish  from  entry 
into  the  ports  of  the  United  States." 

The  existing  controversy  is  one  in  which  two  nations  are  the 
parties  concerned.  The  retaliation  contemplated  by  the  Act 
<;t  Congress  is  to  be  enforced,  not  to  protect  solely  any  partic 
ular  interest,  however  meritorious  or  valuable,  but  to  main 
tain  the  national  honor,  and  thus  protect  all  our  people.  In 
this  view,  the  violation  of  American  fishery  rights,  and  unjust  or 
unfriendly  acts  toward  a  portion  of  our  citizens  engaged  in  this 
business,  are  but  the  occasion  for  action,  and  constitute  a 
national  affront  which  gives  birth  to  or  may  justify  retaliation. 
This  measure,  once  resorted  to,  its  effectiveness  and  value 
may  well  depend  upon  the  thoroughness  and  extent  of  its 
application  ;  and  in  the  performance  of  international  duties. 


500        THE   MAINTENANCE   OF  NATIONAL  HONOR. 

the  enforcement  of  international  rights,  and  the  protection  of 
our  citizens,  this  government  and  the  people  of  the  United 
States  must  act  as  a  unit — all  intent  upon  attaining  the  best  re 
sult  of  retaliation  upon  the  basis  of  a  maintenance  of  national 
honor  and  dignity. 

A  nation  seeking  by  any  means  to  maintain  its  honor,  dignity, 
and  integrity  is  engaged  in  protecting  the  rights  of  its  people  ; 
and  if  in  such  efforts  particular  interests  are  injured  and  special 
advantages  forfeited,  these  things  should  be  patriotically  borne 
for  the  public  good. 

An  immense  volume  of  population,  manufactures,  and  agri 
cultural  productions,  and  the  marine  tonnage  and  railways 
to  which  these  have  given  activity,  all  largely  the  result  of 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  British  America, 
and  the  natural  growth  of  a  full  half  century  of  good  neighbor 
hood  and  friendly  communication,  form  an  aggregate  of  material 
wealth  and  incidental  relations  of  most  impressive  magnitude. 
I  fully  appreciate  these  things,  and  am  not  unmindful  of  the 
great  number  of  our  people  who  are  concerned  in  such  vast 
and  diversified  interests. 

In  the  performance  of  the  serious  duty  which  the  Congress 
has  imposed  upon  me,  and  in  the  exercise  upon  just  occasion 
of  the  power  conferred  under  the  Act  referred  to,  I  shall  deem 
myself  bound  to  inflict  no  unnecessary  damage  or  injury  upon 
any  portion  of  our  people  ;  but  I  shall,  nevertheless,  be  un 
flinchingly  guided  by  a  sense  of  what  the  self-respect  and 
dignity  of  the  nation  demand.  In  the  maintenance  of  these, 
and  in  the  support  of  the  honor  of  the  government,  beneath 
which  every  citizen  may  repose  in  safety,  no  sacrifice  of  per 
sonal  or  private  interests  shall  be  considered  as  against  the 
general  welfare. 

Yours  very  truly, 

GKOVER  CLEVELAND. 


THE  MAINTENANCE  OF  NATIONAL  HONOR.     501 

IT. 
Concerning  Retaliation  on  Canada. 

To  THE  CONGRESS  : 

The  rejection  by  the  Senate  of  the  treaty  lately  negotiated 
for  the  settlement  and  adjustment  of  the  differences  existing 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  concerning  the 
rights  and  privileges  of  American  fishermen  in  the  ports  and 
waters  of  British  North  America,  seems  to  justify  a  survey  of 
the  condition  to  which  the  pending  question  is  thus  remitted. 

The  treaty  upon  this  subject  concluded  in  1818,  through 
disagreements  as  to  the  meaning  of  its  terms,  has  been  a  fruit 
ful  source  of  irritation  and  trouble.  Our  citizens  engaged  in 
fishing  enterprises  in  waters  adjacent  to  Canada  have  been 
subjected  to  numerous  vexatious  interferences  and  annoy 
ances,  their  vessels  have  been  seized  upon  pretexts  which 
appeared  to  be  entirely  inadmissible,  and  they  have  been  other 
wise  treated  by  the  Canadian  authorities  and  officials  in  a 
manner  inexcusably  harsh  and  oppressive. 

This  conduct  has  been  justified  by  Great  Britain  and 
Canada,  by  the  claim  that  the  treaty  of  1818  permitted  it,  and 
upon  the  ground  that  it  was  necessary  to  the  proper  protection 
of  Canadian  interests.  We  deny  that  treaty  agreements  justify 
these  acts,  and  we  further  maintain  that,  aside  from  any  treaty 
restraints  of  disputed  interpretation,  the  relative  positions  of 
the  United  States  and  Canada  as  near  neighbors,  the  growth  of 
our  joint  commerce,  the  development  and  prosperity  of  bo'ih 
countries,  which  amicable  relations  surely  guarantee,  and  above 
all,  the  liberality  always  extended  by  the  United  States  to  the 
people  of  Canada,  furnished  motives  for  kindness  and  consid 
eration  higher  and  better  than  treaty  covenants. 

While  keenly  sensitive  to  all  that  was  exasperating  in  the 
condition,  and  by  no  means  indisposed  to  support  the  just 
complaints  of  our  injured  citizens,  I  still  deemed  it  my  duty, 
for  the  preservation  of  important  American  interests  which 
were  directly  involved,  and  in  view  of  all  the  details  of  the 


502         THE  MAINTENANCE   OF  NATIONAL   HONOR. 

situation,  to  attempt  by  negotiation  to  remedy  existing  wrongs 
and  to  terminate,  finally,  by  a  fair  and  just  treaty,  these  ever- 
recurring  causes  of  difficulty. 

I  fully  believe  that  the  treaty  just  rejected  by  the  Senate 
was  well  suited  to  the  exigency,  and  that  its  provisions  were 
adequate  for  our  security,  in  the  future,  from  vexatious  inci 
dents  and  for  the  promotion  of  friendly  neighborhood  and 
intimacy,  without  sacrificing  in  the  least  our  national  pride  or 
dignity. 

I  am  quite  conscious  that  neither  my  opinion  of  the  value  of 
the  rejected  treaty  nor  the  motives  which  prompted  its  nego 
tiation  are  of  importance  in  the  light  of  the  judgment  of  the 
Senate  thereupon.  But  it  is  of  importance  to  note  that  this 
treaty  has  been  rejected  without  any  apparent  disposition  on 
the  part  of  the  Senate  to  alter  or  amend  its  provisions,  and 
with  the  evident  intention,  not  wanting  expression,  that  no 
negotiation  should  at  present  be  concluded  touching  the  matter 
at  issue. 

The  co-operation  necessary  for  the  adjustment  of  the. long 
standing  national  differences  with  which  we  have  to  deal,  by 
methods  of  conference  and  agreement,  having  thus  been 
declined,  I  am  by  no  means  disposed  to  abandon  the  interests 
and  the  rights  of  our  people  in  the  premises,  or  to  neglect 
their  grievances  ;  and  I  therefore  turn  to  the  contemplation  of 
a  plan  of  retaliation  as  a  mode,  which  still  remains,  of  treating 
the  situation. 

I  am  not  unmindful  of  the  gravity  of  the  responsibility 
assumed  in  adopting  this  line  of  conduct,  nor  do  I  fail  in  the 
least  to  appreciate  its  serious  consequences.  It  will  be  impossi 
ble  to  injure  our  Canadian  neighbors  by  retaliatory  measures 
without  inflicting  some  damage  upon  our  own  citizens.  This 
results  from  our  proximity,  our  community  of  interests,  and 
the  inevitable  commingling  of  the  business  enterprises  which 
have  been  developed  by  mutual  activity. 

Plainly  stated,  the  policy  of  national  retaliation  manifestly 
embraces  the  infliction  of  the  greatest  harm  upon  those  who 


THE   MAINTENANCE   OF  NATIONAL   HONOR.        503 

have  injured  us,  with  the  least  possible  damage  to  ourselves. 
There  is  also  an  evident  propriety  as  well  as  an  invitation  to 
moral  support,  found  in  visiting  upon  the  offending  party  the 
same  measure  or  kind  of  treatment  of  which  we  complain,  and 
as  far  as  possible  within  the  same  limes.  And  above  all  things 
the  plan  of  retaliation,  if  entered  upon,  should  be  thorough  and 
vigorous. 

These  considerations  lead  me  at  this  time  to  invoke  the  aid 
and  counsel  of  the  Congress  and  its  support  in  such  a  further 
grant  of  power  as  seems  to  me  necessary  and  desirable  to 
render  effective  the  policy  I  have  indicated. 

The  Congress  has  already  passed  a  law,  which  received 
Executive  assent  on  the  3d  day  of  March,  1887,  providing  that 
in  case  American  fishing  vessels  being  or  visiting  in  the  waters, 
or  at  any  of  the  ports  of  the  British  dominions  of  North 
America,  shoild  be,  or  lately  had  been,  deprived  of  the  rights 
to  which  they  were  entitled  by  treaty  or  law,  or  if  they  were 
denied  certaii  other  privileges  therein  specified,  or  vexed  and 
harassed  in  tie  enjoyment  of  the  same,  the  President  might 
deny  to  vesses  and  their  masters  and  crews  of  the  British 
dominions  of  North  America  any  entrance  into  the  waters, 
ports,  or  harbtrs  of  the  United  States,  and  also  deny  entry  into 
any  port  or  phce  of  the  United  States  of  any  product  of  said 
dominions,  or  >ther  goods  coming  from  said  dominions  to  the 
United  States. 

While  I  shal  not  hesitate  upon  proper  occasion  to  enforce 
this  Act,  it  woucl  seem  to  be  unnecessary  to  suggest  that  if 
such  enforcemeit  is  limited  in  such  a  manner  as  shall  result 
in  the  least  posible  injury  to  our  own  people  the  effect  would 
probably  be  enirely  inadequate  to  the  accomplishment  of  the 
purpose  desired 

I  deem  it  myduty,  therefore,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Con 
gress  to  certain  particulars  in  the  action  of  the  authorities  of 
the  Dominion- c  Canada,  in  addition  to  the  general  allegations 
already  made,  'hirh  appear  to  be  in  such  marked  contrast  to 
the  liberal  and  friendly  disposition  of  our  country  as  in  my 


5<H        TIIE   MAINTENANCE   OF  NATIONAL   IIOXOK. 

opinion  to  call  for  such  legislation  as  will,  upon  the  principles 
already  stated,  properly  supplement  the  power  to  inaugurate 
retaliation,  already  vested  in  the  Executive. 

Actuated  by  the  generous  and  neighborly  spirit  whu:h  has 
characterized  our  legislation,  our  tariff  laws  have,  since  1866, 
been  so  far  waived  in  favor  of  Canada  as  to  allow  free  of  duty 
the  transit  across  the  territory  of  the  United  States  of  property 
arriving  at  our  ports  and  destined  to  Canada,  or  exported  from 
Canada  to  other  foreign  countries. 

When  the  treaty  of  Washington  was  negotiated  in  1871, 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  hav.ng  for  its 
object  very  largely  the  modification  of  the  treaty  of  1818,  the 
privileges  above  referred  to  were  made  reciprocal  aid  given  in 
return  by  Canada  to  the  United  States  in  the  folowing  lan 
guage,  contained  in  the  twenty-ninth  article  of  saic  treaty  : 

It  is  agreed  that,  for  the  term  of  years  mentioned  in  article  thirty-three  of 
this  treaty,  goods,  wares,  or  merchandise  arriving  at  the  port!  of  New  York, 
Boston,  and  Portland,  and  any  other  ports  in  the  United  Staes  which  have 
been  or  may,  from  time  to  time,  be  specially  designated  by  tie  President  of 
the  United  States,  and  destined  for  Her  Britannic  Majesty';  possessions  in 
North  America,  may  be  entered  at  the  proper  customhouse  aid  conveyed  in 
transit,  without  the  payment  of  duties,  through  the  territor  of  the  United 
States,  under  such  rules,  regulations,  and  conditions  for  the  >rotection  of  the 
revenue  as  the  Government  of  the  United  Slates  may  from  Ime  to  time  pre 
scribe  ;  and,  under  like  rules,  regulations,  and  conditions.goods,  wares,  or 
merchandise  may  be  conveyed  in  transit,  without  the  pament  of  duties, 
from  such  possessions  through  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  for  export 
from  the  said  ports  of  the  United  State?. 

It  is  further  agreed  that,  for  the  like  period,  goods,  ware,  or  merchandise 
arriving  at  any  of  the  ports  of  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  posessions  in  North 
America,  and  destined  for  the  United  States,  may  be  enteed  at  the  proper 
customhouse  and  conveyed  in  transit,  without  the  pament  of  duties, 
through  the  said  possessions,  under  such  rules  and  reguations  and  condi 
tions  for  the  protection  of  the  revenue,  as  the  government;  of  the  said  pos 
sessions  may  from  time  to  time  prescribe  ;  and,  under  likffules,  and  regula 
tions,  and  conditions,  goods,  wares,  or  merchandise  maybe  conveyed,  in 
transit,  without  payment  of  ditties,  from  the  United  Statesthrough  the  said 
possessions  to  other  places  in  the  United  States,  or  for  e»ort  from  ports  in 
the  said  possessions. 


THE  MAINTENANCE   OI<   NATIONAL   HONOR.        5°5 

In  the  year  1886  notice  was  received  by  the  representatives 
of  our  government  that  our  fishermen  would  no  longer  be 
allowed  to  ship  their  fish  in  bond  and  free  of  duty  through 
Canadian  territory  to  this  country  ;  and  ever  since  that  time 
such  shipment  has  been  denied. 

The  privilege  of  such  shipment,  which  had  been  extended  to 
our  fishermen,  was  a  most  important  one,  allowing  them  to 
spend  the  time  upon  the  fishing-grounds,  which  would  other 
wise  be  devoted  to  a  voyage  home  with  their  catch,  and 
doubling  their  opportunities  for  profitably  prosecuting  their 
avocation. 

In  forbidding  the  transit  of  the  catch  of  our  fishermen  over 
their  territory,  in  bond  and  free  of  duty,  the  Canadian  authori 
ties  deprived  us  of  the  only  facility  dependent  upon  their  con 
cession,  and  for  which  we  could  supply  no  substitute. 

The  value  to  the  Dominion  of  Canada  of  the  privilege  of 
transit  for  their  exports  and  imports,  across  our  territory,  to 
and  from  our  ports,  though  great  in  every  respect,  will  be 
better  appreciated  when  it  is  remembered  that,  for  a  consider 
able  portion  of  each  year,  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  which  con 
stitutes  the  direct  avenue  of  foreign  commerce  leading  to 
Canada,  is  closed  by  ice. 

During  the  last  six  years  the  imports  and  exports  of  British 
Canadian  provinces,  carried  across  our  territory  under  the 
privileges  granted  by  our  laws,  amounted  in  value  to  about 
two  hundred  and  seventy-five  millions  of  dollars,  nearly  all  of 
which  were  goods  dutiable  under  our  tariff  laws,  by  far  the 
larger  part  of  this  traffic  consisting  of  exchanges  of  goods  be 
tween  Great  Britain  and  her  American  provinces,  brought  to 
and  carried  from  our  ports  in  their  own  vessels. 

The  treaty  stipulation  entered  into  by  our  government  was 
in  harmony  with  laws  which  were  then  on  our  statute  book 
and  are  still  in  force. 

I  recommend  immediate  legislative  action  conferring  upon 
the  Executive  the  power  to  suspend  by  proclamation  the  opera 
tion  of  all  laws  and  regulations  permitting  the  transit  of  goods, 


THE  MA  IN  TEN  A  NCR   OF  NATIONAL  HONOR. 

wares,  and  merchandise  in  bond  across  or  over  the  territory  of 
the  United  States  to  or  from  Canada. 

There  need  be  no  hesitation  in  suspending  these  laws,  arising 
from  the  supposition  that  their  continuation  is  secured  by 
treaty  obligations,  for  it  seems  quite  plain  that  article  twenty- 
nine  of  the  treaty  of  1871,  which  was  the  only  article  incor 
porating  such  laws,  terminated  the  ist  day  of  July,  1885. 

The  article  itself  declares  that  its  provisions  shall  be  in 
force  "for  the  term  of  years  mentioned  in  article  thirty-three 
of  this  treaty."  Turning  to  article  thirty-three,  we  find  no 
mention  of  the  twenty-ninth  article,  but  only  a  provision 
that  articles  eighteen  to  twenty-five,  inclusive,  and  article 
thirty  shall  ta,ke  effect  as  soon  as  the  laws  required  to  carry 
them  into  operation  shall  be  passed  by  the  legislative  bodies  of 
the  different  countries  concerned,  and  that  "  they  shall  remain 
in  force  for  the  period  of  ten  years  from  the  date  at  which 
they  may  come  into  operation,  and  further  until  the  expiration 
of  two  years  after  either  of  the  high  contracting  parties  shall 
have  given  notice  to  the  other  of  its  wish  to  terminate  the 
same." 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  "  term  of  years  mentioned  in 
article  thirty-three,"  referred  to  in  article  twenty-nine  as  the 
limit  of  its  duration,  means  the  period  during  which  articles 
eighteen  to  twenty-five  inclusive,  and  article  thirty,  commonly 
called  the  "  fishery  articles,"  should  continue  in  force  under 
the  language  of  said  article  thirty-three. 

That  the  Joint  High  Commissioners  who  negotiated  the 
treaty  so  understood  and  intended  the  phrase  is  certain  ;  for  in 
a  statement  containing  an  account  of  their  negotiations,  pre 
pared  under  their  supervision  and  approved  by  them,  we  find 
the  following  entry  on  the  subject  : 

The  transit  question  was  discussed,  and  it  was  agreed  that  any  settlement 
that  might  be  made  should  include  a  reciprocal  arrangement  in  that  respect 
for  the  period  for  which  the  fishery  articles  should  be  in  force. 

In  addition  to  'this  very  satisfactory  evidence,  supporting  this 
construction  of  the  language  of  article  twenty-nine,  it  will  be 


THE  MAINTENANCE  OF  NATIONAL  HONOR.       507 

found  that  the  law  passed  by  Congress  to  carry  the  treaty  into 
effect  furnishes  conclusive  proof  of  the  correctness  of  such 
construction. 

This  law  was  passed  March  i,  1873,  and  is  entitled  "  An  Act 
to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain,  signed  in  the  city  of  Washing 
ton  the  eighth  day  of  May,  eighteen  hundred  and  seventy-one, 
relating  to  the  fisheries."  After  providing  in  its  first  and 
second  sections  for  putting  in  operation  articles  eighteen  to 
twenty-five,  inclusive,  and  article  thirty  of  the  treaty,  the  third 
section  is  devoted  to  article  twenty-nine  as  follows  : 

SECTION  3.  That  from  the  date  of  the  President's  proclamation  author 
ized  by  the  first  section  of  this  Act,  and  so  long-  as  the  articles  eighteenth  to 
twenty-fifth,  inclusive,  and  article  thirtieth  of  said  treaty  shall  remain  in  force 
according  to  the  terms  and  conditions  of  article  thirty-third  of  said  treaty,  all 
goods,  wares,  and  merchandise  arriving,  etc.,  etc. 

following  in  the  remainder  of  the  section  the  precise  words  of 
the  stipulation  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  as  contained 
in  article  twenty-nine  which  I  have  already  fully  quoted. 

Here,  then,  is  a  distinct  enactment  of  the  Congress  limiting 
the  duration  of  this  article  of  the  treaty  to  the  time  that  articles 
eighteen  to  twenty-five  inclusive,  and  article  thirty,  should  con 
tinue  in  force.  That  in  fixing  such  limitation  it  but  gave  the 
meaning  of  the  treaty  itself,  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  its 
purpose  is  declared  to  be  to  carry  into  effect  the  provisions  of 
the  treaty,  and  by  the  further  fact  that  this  law  appears  to 
have  been  submitted  before  the  promulgation  of  the  treaty  to 
certain  members  of  the  Joint  High  Commission  representing 
both  countries,  and  met  with  no  objection  or  dissent. 

There  appearing  to  be  no  conflict  or  inconsistency  between 
the  treaty  and  the  Act  of  Congress  last  cited,  it  is  not  necessary 
to  invoke  the  well-settled  principle  that  in  case  of  such  con 
flict  the  statute  governs  the  question. 

In  any  event,  and  whether  the  law  of  1873  construes  the 
treaty  or  governs  it,  section  twenty-nine  of  such  treaty,  1  have 
no  doubt,  terminated  with  the  proceedings  taken  by  our  gov 
ernment  to  terminate  articles  eighteen  to  twenty-five,  inclusive 


508        THE   MAINTENANCE   OE  NATIONAL   HONOR. 

and  article  thirty  of  the  treaty.  These  proceedings  had  their 
inception  in  a  joint  resolution  of  Congress  passed  May  3,  1883, 
declaring  that,  in  the  judgment  of  Congress,  these  articles  ought 
to  be  terminated,  and  directing  the  President  to  give  the  notice 
to  the  government  of  Great  Britain  provided  for  in  article 
thirty-three  of  the  treaty.  Such  notice  having  been  given  two 
years  prior  to  the  ist  day  of  July,  1885,  the  articles  mentioned 
were  absolutely  terminated  on  the  last-named  day,  and  with 
them  article  twenty-nine  was  also  terminated. 

If  by  any  language  used  in  the  joint  resolution  it  was 
intended  to  relieve  section  three  of  the  Act  of  1873,  embodying 
article  twenty-nine  of  the  treaty,  from  its  own  limitations,  or  to 
save  the  article  itself,  I  am  entirely  satisfied  that  the  intention 
miscarried. 

But  statutes  granting  to  the  people  of  Canada  the  valuable 
privileges  of  transit  for  their  goods  from  our  ports  and  over 
our  soil,  which  had  been  passed  prior  to  the  making  of  the 
treaty  of  1871,  and  independently  of  it,  remained  in  force  ;  and 
ever  since  the  abrogation  of  the  treaty,  and  notwithstanding 
the  refusal  of  Canada  to  permit  our  fishermen  to  send  their 
fish  to  their  home  market  through  her  territory  in  bond,  the 
people  of  that  Dominion  have  enjoyed  without  diminution  the 
advantages  of  our  liberal  and  generous  laws. 

Without  basing  our  complaint  upon  a  violation  of  treaty 
obligations,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  such  refusal  of  transit, 
and  the  other  injurious  acts  which  have  been  recited,  constitute 
a  provoking  insistence  upon  rights  neither  mitigated  by  the 
amenities  of  national  intercourse  nor  modified  by  the  recog 
nition  of  our  liberality  and  generous  consideration. 

The  history  of  events  connected  with  this  subject  makes  it 
manifest  that  the  Canadian  Government  can,  if  so  disposed, 
administer  its  laws  and  protect  the  interest  of  its  people  with 
out  manifestation  of  unfriendliness,  and  without  the  unneigh- 
borly  treatment  of  our  fishing-vessels  of  which  we  have  justly 
complained  ;  and  whatever  is  done  on  our  part  should  be  done 
in  the  hope  that  the  disposition  of  the  Canadian  Government 


THE   MAINTENANCE   OF  NATIONAL   HONOR.        5°9 

may  remove  the  occasion  of  a  resort  to  the  additional  executive 
power  now  sought  through  legislative  action. 

1  am  satisfied  that,  upon  the  principles  which  should  govern 
retaliation,  our  intercourse  and  relations  with  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  furnish  no  better  opportunity  for  its  application  than 
are  suggested  by  the  conditions  herein  presented  ;  and  that 
it  could  not  be  more  effectively  inaugurated  than  under  the 
power  of  suspension  recommended. 

While  I  have  expressed  my  clear  conviction  upon  the  ques 
tion  of  the  continuance  of  section  twenty-nine  of  the  treaty  of 
1871,  I,  of  course,  fully  concede  the  power  and  the  duty  of 
the  Congress,  in  contemplating  legislative  action,  to  construe 
the  terms  of  any  treaty  stipulation  which  might,  upon  any  pos 
sible  consideration  of  good  faith,  limit  such  action  ;  and  like 
wise,  the  peculiar  propriety,  in  the  case  here  presented  of  its 
interpretation  of  its  own  language  as  contained  in  the  laws  of 
1873  putting  in  operation  said  treaty,  and  of  1883  directing 
the  termination  thereof  ;  and  if,  in  the  deliberate  judgment  of 
Congress,  any  restraint  to  the  proposed  legislation  exists,  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  expediency  of  its  early  removal  will  be 
recognized. 

I  desire,  also,  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Congress  to 
another  subject  involving  such  wrongs  ancUunfair  treatment  to 
our  citizens  as,  in  my  opinion,  require  prompt  action. 

The  navigation  of  the  Great  Lakes,  and  the  immense  busi 
ness  and  carrying  trade  growing  out  of  the  same,  have  been 
treated  broadly  and  liberally  by  the  United  States  Govern 
ment,  and  made  free  to  all  mankind,  while  Canadian  railroads 
and  navigation  companies  share  in  our  country's  transporta 
tion  upon  terms  as  favorable  as  are  accorded  to  our  own 
citizens. 

The  canals  and  other  public  works  built  and  maintained  by 
the  government  along  the  line  of  the  Lakes  are  made  free  to 
all. 

In  contrast  to  this  condition,  and  evincing  a  narrow  and  un 
generous  commercial  spirit,  every  lock  and  canal  which  is 


5'0         THE    MAINTENANCE    OF  NATIONAL    HONOR. 

a  public  work   of   the   Dominion  of  Canada  is  subject  to  tolls 
and  charges. 

By  article  twenty-seven  of  the  treaty  of  1871  provision  was 
made  to  secure  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  the  use  of 
the  Welland,  St.  Lawrence,  and  other  canals  in  the  Dominion 
of  Canada,  on  terms  of  equality  with  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Dominion,  and  also  to  secure  to  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain 
the  use  of  the  St.  Clair  Flats  Canal  on  terms  of  equality  with 
the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States. 

The  equality  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  Dominion,  which 
we  were  promised  in  the  use  of  the  canals  of  Canada,. did  not 
secure  to  us  freedom  from  tolls  in  their  navigation,  but  we  had 
a  right  to  expect  that  we,  being  Americans  and  interested  in 
American  commerce,  would  be  no  more  burdened  in  regard  to 
the  same  than  Canadians  engaged  in  their  own  trade  ;  and  the 
whole  spirit  of  the  concession  made  was,  or  should  have  been, 
that  merchandise  and  property  transported  to  an  American 
market  through  these  canals  should  not  be  enhanced  in  its  cost 
by  tolls  many  times  higher  than  such  as  were  carried  to  an  ad 
joining  Canadian  market.  All  our  citizens,  producers  and 
consumers  as  well  as  vessel-owners,  were  to  enjoy  the  equality 
promised. 

And  yet  evidence  has  for  some  time  been  before  the  Con 
gress,  furnished  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  showing  that 
while  the  tolls  charged  in  the  first  instance  are  the  same  to  all, 
such  vessels  and  cargoes  as  are  destined  to  certain  Canadian 
ports  are  allowed  a  refund  of  nearly  the  entire  tolls,  while  those 
bound  for  American  ports  are  not  allowed  any  such  advantage. 

To  promise  equality,  and  then  in  practice  make  it  conditional 
upon  our  vessels  doing  Canadian  business  instead  of  their  own, 
is  to  fulfill  a  promise  with  a  shadow  of  performance. 

I  recommend  that  such  legislative  action  be  taken  as  will 
give  Canadian  vessels  navigating  our  canals,  and  their  cargoes, 
precisely  the  advantages  granted  to  our  vessels  and  cargoes 
upon  Canadian  canals,  and  that  the  same  be  measured  by 
exactly  the  same  rule  of  discrimination. 


THE  MAINTENANCE   OF  NATIONAL   HONOR.        511 

The  course  which  I  have  outlined,  and  the  recommendations 
made,  relate  to  the  honor  and  dignity  of  our  country,  and  the 
protection  and  preservation  of  the  rights  and  interests  of  all 
our  people.  A  government  does  but  half  its  duty  when  it 
protects  its  citizens  at  home  and  permits  them  to  be  imposed 
upon  and  humiliated  by  the  unfair  and  over-reaching  dispo 
sition  of  other  nations.  If  we  invite  our  people  to  rely  upon 
arrangements  made  for  their  benefit  abroad,  we  should  see 
to  it  that  they  are  not  deceived  ;  and  if  we  are  generous 
and  liberal  to  a  neighboring  country  our  people  should  reap 
the  advantage  of  it  by  a  return  of  liberality  and  generosity. 

These  are  subjects  which  partisanship  should  not  disturb  or 
confuse.  Let  us  survey  the  ground  calmly  and  moderately, 
and  having  put  aside  other*  means  of  settlement,  if  we  enter 
upon  the  policy  of  retaliation  let  us  pursue  it  firmly,  with  a 
determination  only  to  subserve  the  interests  of  our  people  and 
maintain  the  high  standard  and  the  becoming  pride  of  Ameri 
can  citizenship. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  August  23,  1888. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS    RECOMMENDATIONS. 

I. 

THE   REBUILDING   OF  THE   NAVY. 
(From  the  First  Annual  Message,   December,    1885.) 

ALL  must  admit  the  importance  of  an  effective  Navy  to  a 
nation  like  ours,  having  such  an  extended  seacoast  to  protect. 
And  yet  we  have  not  a  single  vessel  of  war  that  could  keep  the 
seas  against  a  first-class  vessel  of  any  important  power.  Such 
a  condition  ought  no  longer  to  continue.  The  nation  that 
cannot  resist  aggression  is  constantly  exposed  to  it.  Its  for 
eign  policy  is  of  necessity  weak,  and  its  negotiations  are  con 
ducted  with  disadvantage,  because  it  is  not  in  condition  to 
enforce  the  terms  dictated  by  its  sense  of  right  and  justice. 

Inspired,  as  I  am,  by  the  hope,  shared  by  all  patriotic  citi 
zens,  that  the  day  is  not  very  far  distant  when  our  Navy  will 
be  such  as  befits  our  standing  among  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
and  rejoiced  at  every  step  that  leads  in  the  direction  of  such  a 
consummation,  I  deem  it  my  duty  especially  to  direct  the 
attention  of  Congress  to  the  close  of  the  report  of  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy,  in  which  the  humiliating  weakness  of  the  present 
organization  of  his  Department  is  exhibited,  and  the  startling 
abuses  and  waste  of  its  present  methods  are  exposed.  The 
conviction  is  forced  upon  us,  with  the  certainty  of  mathematical 
demonstrations,  that  before  we  proceed  further  in  the  restoration 
of  a  Navy  we  need  a  thoroughly  reorganized  Navy  Department. 

The  fact  that  within  seventeen  years  more  than  seventy-five 
millions  of  dollars  have  been  spent  in  the  construction,  repair, 
equipment,  acd  armament  of  vessels,  and  the  further  fact  that, 


RECOMMENDA  TIONS.  5  1 3 

instead  of  an  effective  and  creditable  fleet,  we  have  only  the 
discontent  and  apprehension  of  a  nation  undefended  by  war 
vessels,  added  to  the  disclosures  now  made,  do  not  permit  us 
to  doubt  that  every  attempt  to  revive  our  Navy  has  thus  far, 
for  the  most  part,  been  misdirected,  and  all  our  efforts  in  that 
direction  have  been  little  better  than  blind  gropings,  and 
expensive,  aimless  follies. 

Unquestionably  if  we  are  content  with  the  maintenance  of  a 
Navy  Department  simply  as  a  shabby  ornament  to  the  govern 
ment,  a  constant  watchfulness  may  prevent  some  of  the  scandal 
and  abuse  which  have  found  their  way  into  our  present  organ 
ization,  and  its  incurable  waste  may  be  reduced  to  the  mini 
mum.  But  if  we  desire  to  build  ships  for  present  usefulness, 
instead  of  naval  reminders  of  the  days  that  are  past,  we  must 
have  a  Department  organized  for  the  work,  supplied  with  all 
the  talent  and  ingenuity  our  country  affords,  prepared  to  take 
advantage  of  the  experience  of  other  nations,  systematized  so 
that  all  efforts  shall  unite  and  lead  in  one  direction,  and  fully 
imbued  with  the  conviction  that  war  vessels,  though  new,  are 
useless  unless  they  combine  all  that  the  ingenuity  of  man  has 
up  to  this  day  brought  forth  relating  to  their  construction. 

I  earnestly  commend  the  portion  of  the  Secretary's  report 
devoted  to  this  subject  to  the  attention  of  Congress,  in  the 
hope  that  his  suggestions  touching  the  reorganization  of  his 
Department  may  be  adopted  as  the  first  step  toward  the  recon 
struction  of  our  Navy. 


II. 

THE   AGRICULTURAL    DEPARTMENT    AND    ITS   WORK. 
I. 

(From  the  First  Annual  Message,  December,   1885.) 
The  agricultural  interest  of  the  country  demands  just  recog 
nition  and  liberal  encouragement.      It  sustains  with  certainty 
and  unfailing  strength  our  nation's  prosperity  by  the  products 


5  *  4  AffsCEL  LANKO  US 

of  its  steady  toil,  and  bears  its  full  share  of  the  burden  of  tax 
ation  without  complaints.  Our  agriculturists  have  but  slight 
personal  representation  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  and  are 
generally  content  with  the  humbler  duties  of  citizenship,  and 
willing  to  trust  to  the  bounty  of  nature  for  a  reward  of  their 
labor.  But  the  magnitude  and  value  of  this  industry  are 
appreciated,  when  the  statement  is  made  that  of  our  total 
annual  exports  more  than  three-fourths  are  the  products  of 
agriculture,  and  of  our  total  population  nearly  one-half  are 
exclusively  engaged  in  that  occupation. 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  was  created  for  the  purpose 
of  acquiring  and  diffusing  among  the  people  useful  informa 
tion  respecting  the  subjects  it  has  in  charge,  and  aiding  in  the 
cause  of  intelligent  and  progressive  farming,  by  the  collection 
of  statistics,  by  testing  the  value  and  usefulness  of  new  seeds 
and  plants,  and  distributing  such  as  are  found  desirable 
among  agriculturists.  This  and  other  powers  and  duties  with 
which  this  Department  is  invested  are  of  the  utmost  impor 
tance,  and,  if  wisely  exercised,  must  be  of  great  benefit  to  the 
country.  The  aim  of  our  beneficent  government  is  the  im 
provement  of  the  people  in  every  station,  and  the  ameliora 
tion  of  their  condition.  Surely  our  agriculturists  should  not 
be  neglected.  The  instrumentality  established  in  aid  of  the 
farmers  of  the  land  should  not  only  be  well  equipped  for  the 
accomplishment  of  its  purpose,  but  those  for  whose  benefit  it 
has  been  adopted  should,  be  encouraged  to  avail  themselves 
fully  of  its  advantages. 

The  prohibition  of  the  importation  into  several  countries  of 
certain  of  our  animals  and  their  products,  based  upon  the 
suspicion  that  health  is  endangered  in  their  use  and  consump 
tion,  suggests  the  importance  of  such  precautions,  for  the  pro 
tection  of  our  stock  of  all  kinds  against  disease,  as  will  disarm 
suspicion  of  danger  and  cause  the  removal  of  such  an  injurious 
prohibition. 

If  the  laws  now  in  operation  are  insufficient  to  acomplish 
this  protection,  I  recommend  their  amendment  to  meet  the 


RE  COMMEND  A  T1ONS.  5  '  5 

necessities  of  the  situation,  and  I  commend  to  the  consider 
ation  of  Congress  the  suggestions  contained  in  the  report 
of  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  calculated  to  increase  the 
value  and  efficiency  of  this  Department. 


(From  the  Second  Annual  Message,  December,  1886.) 
The  Department  of  Agriculture,  representing  the  oldest  and 
largest  of  our  national  industries,  is  subserving  well  the  pur 
poses  of  its  organization.  By  the  introduction  of  new  subjects 
of  farming  enterprise,  and  by  opening  new  sources  of  agricul 
tural  wealth,  and  the  dissemination  of  early  information  con 
cerning  production  and  prices,  it  has  contributed  largely  to  the 
country's  prosperity.  Through  this  agency  advanced  thought 
and  investigation,  touching  the  subjects  it  has  in  charge,  should, 
among  other  things,  be  practically  applied  to  the  home  pro 
duction  at  a  low  cost  of  articles  of  food  which  are  now 
imported  from  abroad.  Such  an  innovation  will  necessarily, 
of  course,  in  the  beginning,  be  within  the  domain  of  intelligent 
experiment;  and  the  subject  in  every  stage  should  receive  all 
possible  encouragement  from  the  government. 

The  interests  of  millions  of  our  citizens  engaged  in  agricul 
ture  are  involved  in  an  enlargement  and  improvement  of  the 
results  of  their  labor;  and  a  zealous  regard  for  their  welfare 
should  be  a  willing  tribute  to  those  whose  productive  returns 
are  a  main  source  of  our  progress  and  power. 

The  existence  of  pleuro-pneumonia  among  the  cattle  of 
various  States  has  led  to  burdensome  and  in  some  cases  disas 
trous  restrictions  in  an  important  branch  of  our  commerce, 
threatening  to  affect  the  quantity  and  quality  of  our  food 
supply.  This  is  a  matter  of  such  importance,  and  of  such  far- 
reaching  consequences,  that  I  hope  it  will  engage  the  serious 
attention  of  the  Congress,  to  the  end  that  such  a  remedy  may 
be  applied  as  the  limits  of  a  constitutional  delegation  of  power 
to  the  general  government  will  permit. 


5  i 6  MI  SCULL  A  NEO  US 

111. 

REFORMS    IN    THE    DEPARTMENT    OF   JUSTICE. 

(From  the  First  Annual  Message,   December,  1885.) 

The  present  mode  of  compensating  United  States  marshals 
and  district  attorneys  should  in  my  opinion  be  changed.  They 
are  allowed  to  charge  against  the  government  certain  fees  for 
services,  their  income  being  measured  by  the  amount  of  such 
fees  within  a  fixed  limit  as  to  their  annual  aggregate.  This  is 
a  direct  inducement  for  them  to  make  their  fees  in  criminal 
cases  as  large  as  possible  in  an  effort  to  reach  the  maximum  sum 
permitted.  As  an  entirely  natural  consequence,  unscrupulous 
marshals  are  found  encouraging  frivolous  prosecutions,  arrest 
ing  people  on  petty  charges  of  crime  and  transporting  them  to 
distant  places  for  examination  and  trial,  for  the  purpose  of 
earning  mileage  and  other  fees.  And  district  attorneys  use 
lessly  attend  criminal  examinations  far  from  their  places  of 
residence,  for  the  express  purpose  of  swelling  their  accounts 
against  the  government.  The  actual  expenses  incurred  in 
these  transactions  are  also  charged  against  the  government. 

Thus  the  rights  *and  freedom  of  our  citizens  are  outraged 
and  public  expenditures  increased,  for  the  purpose  of  furnish 
ing  public  officers  pretexts  for  increasing  the  measure  of  their 
compensation. 

I  think  marshals  and  district  attorneys  should  be  paid  sala 
ries,  adjusted  by  a  rule  which  will  make  them  commensurate 
with  services  fairly  rendered. 

In  connection  with  this  subject  I  desire  to  suggest  the  advis 
ability,  if  it  be  found  not  obnoxious  to  constitutional  objection, 
of  investing  United  States  commissioners  with  the  power  to 
try  and  determine  certain  violations  of  law  within  the  grade  of 
misdemeanors.  Such  trials  might  be  made  to  depend  upon  the 
option  of  the  accused.  The  multiplication  of  small  and 
technical  offenses,  especially  under  the  provisions  of  our 
internal  revenue  law,  renders  some  change  in  our  present 
system  very  desirable,  in  the  interests  of  humanity  as  well  as 


RRCOMMENDA  TIONS.  5  J  7 

economy.  The  district  courts  are  now  crowded  with  petty 
prosecutions,  involving  a  punishment,  in  cases  of  conviction, 
of  only  a  slight  fine,  while  the  parties  accused  are  harassed  by 
an  enforced  attendance  upon  courts  held  hundreds  of  miles 
from  their  homes.  If  poor  and  friendless  they  are  obliged  to 
remain  in  jail  during  months,  perhaps,  that  elapse  before  a 
session  of  the  court  is  held,  and  are  finally  brought  to  trial 
surrounded  by  strangers  and  with  but  little  real  opportunity 
for  defense.  In  the  meantime,  frequently,  the  marshal  has 
charged  against  the  government  his  fees  for  an  arrest,  the 
transportation  of  the  accused  and  the  expense  of  the  same,  and 
for  summoning  witnesses  before  a  commissioner,  a  grand  jury, 
and  a  court;  the  witnesses  have  been  paid  from  the  public 
funds  large  fees  and  traveling  expenses;  and  the  commissioner 
and  district  attorney  have  also  made  their  charges  against  the 
government. 

This  abuse  in  the  administration  of  our  criminal  law  should 
be  remedied;  and  if  the  plan  above  suggested  is  not  practica 
ble,  some  other  should  be  devised. 


IV*. 

LANDS   GRANTED    TO   THE    PACIFIC    RAILROADS. 

(From  the  First  Annual  Message  to  Congress,   December,  1885.) 

The  nation  has  made  princely  grants  and  subsidies  to  a 
system  of  railroads  projected  as  great  national  highways  to 
connect  the  Pacific  States  with  the  East.  It  has  been  charged 
that  these  donations  from  the  people  have  been  diverted  to 
private  gain  and  corrupt  uses,  and  thus  public  indignation  has 
been  aroused  and  suspicion  engendered.  Our  great  nation 
does  not  begrudge  its  generosity,  but  it  abhors  peculation  and 
fraud;  and  the  favorable  regard  of  our  people  for  the  great 
corporations  to  which  these  grants  were  made,  can  only  be 
revived  by  a  restoration  of  confidence,  to  be  secured  by  their 
constant,  unequivocal,  and  clearly  manifested  integrity. 


5  I  8  MI  SCR  I.  LA  NKO  US 

A  faithful  application  of  the  undiminished  proceeds  of  the 
grants  to  the  construction  and  perfecting  of  their  roads,  an 
honest  discharge  of  their  obligations,  and  entire  justice  to  all 
the  people  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  rights  on  these  highways 
of  travel  are  all  the  public  asks,  and  it  will  be  content  with  no 
less.  To  secure  these  things  should  be  the  common  purpose 
of  the  officers  of  the  government,  as  well  as  of  the  corporations. 
With  this  accomplishment,  prosperity  would  be  permanently 
secured  to  the  roads,  and  national  pride  would  take  the  place 
of  national  complaint. 

V. 

VETOES   OF    PUBLIC    BUILDING    BILLS. 
I. 

(At  Zanesville,  O.,  June  19,   1886.) 

So  far  as  I  am  informed  the  patrons  of  the  post  office  are 
fairly  well  accommodated  in  a  building  which  is  rented  by  the 
government  at  the  rate  of  eight  hundred  dollars  per  annum; 
and  though  the  postmaster  naturally  certifies  that  he  and  his 
fourteen  employees  require  much  more  spacious  surroundings, 
I  have  no  doubt  he  and  they  can  be  induced  to  continue  to 
serve  the  government  in  its  present  quarters. 

The  public  buildings  now  in  process  of  construction,  num 
bering  eighty,  involving  constant  supervision,  are  all  the  build 
ing  projects  which  the  government  ought  to  have  on  hand  at 
one  time,  unless  a  very  palpable  necessity  exists  for  an  increase 
in  the  number.  The  multiplication  of  these  structures 
involves  not  only  the  appropriations  made  for  their  comple 
tion,  but  great  expense  in  their  care  and  preservation  there 
after. 

While  a  fine  government  building  is  a  desirable  ornament  to 
any  town  or  city,  and  while  the  securing  of  an  appropriation 
therefor  is  often  considered  as  an  illustration  of  zeal  and  activ 
ity  in  the  interest  of  a  constituency,  I  am  of  the  opinion  that 


RECOMMENDA  TIONS.  5  T  9 

the   expenditure  of   public  money   for   such  a  purpose  should 
depend  upon  the  necessity  of  such  a  building  for  public  uses. 


2. 
(At  Portsmouth,  O.,  February  26,  1887.) 

It  is  further  stated,  in  a  communication  from  the  promoter  of 
this  bill,  that  "there  is  not  a  Federal  public  building  in  the 
State  of  Ohio  east  of  the  line  drawn  on  the  accompanying  map 
from  Cleveland  through  Columbus  to  Cincinnati;  and  when 
wealth  and  population  and  the  needs  of  the  public  service  are 
considered,  the  distribution  of  public  buildings  in  the  State  is 
an  unfair  one." 

Here  is  disclosed  a  theory  of  expenditure  for  public  build 
ings  which  I  can  hardly  think  should  be  adopted.  If  an  appli 
cation  for  the  erection  of  such  a  building  is  to  be  determined 
by  the  distance  between  its  proposed  location  and  another 
public  building,  or  upon  the  allegation  that  a  certain  division 
of  a  State  is  without  a  government  building,  or  that  the  distri 
bution  of  these  buildings  in  a  particular  State  is  unfair,  we 
shall  rapidly  be  led  to  an  entire  disregard  of  the  considerations 
of  necessity  and  public  need  which,  it  seems  to  me,  should 
alone  justify  the  expenditure  of  public  funds  for  such  a 
purpose. 

The  care  and  protection  which  the  government  owes  to  the 
people  do  not  embrace  the  grant  of  public  buildings  to  deco-. 
rate  thriving  and  prosperous  cities  and  villages,  nor  should 
such  buildings  be  erected  upon  any  principle  of  fair  distribu 
tions  among  localities.  The  government  is  not  an  almoner  of 
gifts  among  the  people,  but  an  instrumentality  by  which  the 
people's  affairs  should  be  conducted  upon  business  principles, 
regulated  by  the  public  needs. 


520  MISCELLANEOUS 


(At  Allentown,  Pa.,   May  9,   1888.) 

The  usual  statement  is  made  in  support  of  this  bill,  setting 
forth  the  growth  of  the  city  where  it  is  proposed  to  locate  the 
building  and  the  amount  and  variety  of  the  business  which  is 
there  transacted.  And  the  postmaster  in  stereotyped  phrase 
represents  the  desirability  of  increased  accommodation  for  the 
transaction  of  the  business  under  his  charge. 

But  I  am  thoroughly  convinced  that  there  is  no  present 
necessity  for  the  expenditure  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
for  any  purpose  connected  with  the  public  business  at  this  place. 
The  annual  rent  now  paid  for  the  post  office  is  thirteen  hundred 
dollars.  The  interest,  at  three  per  cent.,  upon  the  amount 
now  asked  for  this  new  building  is  three  thousand  dollars. 
As  soon  as  it  is  undertaken,  the  pay  of  a  superintendent  of  its 
construction  will  begin,  and  after  its  completion  the  compen 
sation  of  janitors  and  other  expenses  of  its  maintenance  will 
follow. 

The  plan  now  pursued  for  the  erection  of  public  buildings,  is, 
in  my  opinion,  very  objectionable.  They  are  often  built  where 
they  are  not  needed,  of  dimensions  and  at  a  cost  entirely  dis 
proportionate  to  any  public  use  to  which  they  can  be  applied, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  they  frequently  serve  more  to  demon 
strate  the  activity  and  pertinency  of  those  who  represent  local 
ities  desiring  this  kind  of  decoration  at  public  expense,  than 
to  meet  any  necessity  of  the  government. 


(At  Youngstown,   O.,   May  28,   1888.) 

I  have  listened  to  an  unusual  amount  of  personal  representa 
tion  in  favor  of  this  bill  from  parties  whose  desires  I  should  be 
glad  to  meet  on  this  or  any  other  question.  But  none  of  them 
has  insisted  that  there  is  any  present  governmental  need  of 
the  proposed  new  building  even  for  postal  purposes.  On  the 


RE  COMMENDA  TIONS.  5  2 1 

contrary,  I  am  informed  that  the  post  office  is  at  present  well 
accommodated  in  quarters  held  under  a  lease  which  does  not 
expire,  I  believe,  until  1892.  A  letter  addressed  to  the  post 
master  at  Youngstown,  containing  certain  questions  bearing 
upon  the  necessity  of  a  new  building,  failed  to  elicit  a  reply. 
This  fact  is  very  unusual  and  extraordinary,  for  the  postmaster 
can  almost  always  be  relied  upon  to  make  an  exhibit  of  the 
great  necessity  of  larger  quarters  when  a  new  public  building 
is  in  prospect. 

The  fact  was  communicated  to  me,  early  in  the  present  ses 
sion  of  the  Congress,  that  the  aggregate  sum  of  the  appropria 
tions,  contained  in  bills  for  the  erection  and  extension  of  public 
buildings  which  had  up  to  that  time  been  referred  to  the  House 
Committee  on  Public  Buildings  and  Grounds,  was  about 
thirty-seven  millions  of  dollars.  Of  course  this  fact  would  have 
no  particular  relevancy  if  all  the  buildings  asked  for  were 
necessary  for  the  transaction  of  public  business,  as  long  as  we 
have  the  money  to  pay  for  them.  But  inasmuch  as  a  large 
number  of  the  buildings  proposed  are  unnecessary,  and  their 
erection  would  be  wasteful  and  extravagant,  besides  furnishing 
precedents  for  further  and  more  extended  reckless  expendi 
tures  of  a  like  character,  it  seems  to  me  that  applications  for 
new  and  expensive  public  buildings  should  be  carefully 
scrutinized. 

VI. 

THE  TEHUANTEPEC  CANAL  ROUTE. 

(From  First  Annual  Message,  December,  1885.) 

The  interest  of  the  United  States  in  a  practical  transit  for 
ships  across  the  strip  of  land  separating  the  Atlantic  from  the 
Pacific  has  been  repeatedly  manifested  during  the  last  half 
century. 

My  immediate  predecessor  caused  to  be  negotiated  with 
Nicaragua  a  treaty  for  the  construction,  by  and  at  the  sole 
cost  of  the  United  States,  of  a  canal  through  Nicaraguan 


5  2  2  M ISC  ELL  A  NKO  US 

territory,  and  laid  it  before  the  Senate.  Pending  the  action 
of  that  body  thereon,  I  withdrew  the  treaty  for  re-examination. 
Attentive  consideration  of  its  provisions  leads  me  to  withhold 
it  from  resubmission  to  the  Senate. 

Maintaining,  as  I  do,  the  tenets  of  a  line  of  precedents  from 
Washington's  day,  which  proscribe  entangling  alliances  with 
foreign  states,  I  do  not  favor  a  policy  of  acquisition  of  new 
and  distant  territory  or  the  incorporation  of  remote  interests 
with  our  own. 

The  laws  of  progress  are  vital  and  organic,  and  we  must  be 
conscious  of  that  irresistible  tide  of  commercial  expansion 
which,  as  the  concomitant  of  our  active  civilization,  day  by  day, 
is  being  urged  onward  by  those  increasing  facilities  of  produc 
tion,  transportation,  and  communication  to  which  steam  and 
electricity  have  given  birth  ;  but  our  duty  in  the  present  in 
structs  us  to  address  ourselves  mainly  to  the  development  of 
the  vast  resources  of  the  great  area  committed  to  our  charge, 
and  to  the  cultivation  of  the  arts  of  peace  within  our  own 
borders,  though  jealously  alert  in  preventing  the  American 
hemisphere  from  being  involved  in  the  political  problems  and 
complications  of  distant  governments.  Therefore  I  am  un 
able  to  recommend  propositions  involving  paramount  privileges 
of  ownership  or  right  outside  of  our  own  territory,  when 
coupled  with  absolute  and  unlimited  engagements  to  defend 
the  territorial  integrity  of  the  state  where  such  interests  lie. 
While  the  general  project  of  connecting  the  two  oceans  by 
means  of  a  canal  is  to  be  encouraged,  1  am  of  opinion  that  any 
scheme  to  that  end,  to  be  considered  with  favor,  should  be  free 
from  the  features  alluded  to. 

The  Tehuantepec  route  is  declared  by  engineers  of  the 
highest  repute,  and  by  competent  scientists,  to  afford  an  en 
tirely  practicable  transit  for  vessels  and  cargoes  by  means  of 
a  ship  railway  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  The  obvious 
advantages  of  such  a  route,  if  feasible,  over  others  more  re 
mote  from  the  axial  lines  of  traffic  between  Europe  and  the 
Pacific,  and  particularly  between  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi 


KECOMMENDA  TIONS.  5  2 3 

and  the  western  coast  of   North   and    South  America,  are  de 
serving  of  consideration. 

Whatever  highway  may  be  constructed  across  the  barrier 
dividing  the  two  greatest  maritime  areas  of  the  world  must  be 
for  the  world's  benefit,  a  trust  for  mankind,  to  be  removed 
from  the  chance  of  domination  by  any  single  power,  nor  be 
come  a  point  of  invitation  for  hostilities  or  a  prize  for  warlike 
ambition.  An  engagement  combining  the  construction,  owner 
ship,  and  operation  of  such  a  work  by  this  government,  with 
an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  for  its  protection,  with  the 
foreign  state  whose  responsibilities  and  rights  we  would  share, 
is,  in  my  judgment,  inconsistent  with  such  dedication  to  uni 
versal  and  neutral  use,  and  would  moreover  entail  meas 
ures  for  its  realization  beyond  the  scope  of  our  national  polity 
or  present  means. 

The  lapse  of  years  has  abundantly  confirmed  the  wisdom 
and  foresight  of  those  earlier  administrations  which,  long  be 
fore  the  conditions  of  maritime  intercourse  were  changed  and 
enlarged  by  the  progress  of  the  age,  proclaimed  the  vital  need 
of  interoceanic  transit  across  the  American  isthmus  and  con 
secrated  it  in  advance  to  the  common  use  of  mankind  by  their 
positive  declarations  and  through  the  formal  obligation  of 
treaties.  Toward  such  realization  the  efforts  of  my  adminis 
tration  will  be  applied,  ever  bearing  in  mind  the  principles  on 
which  it  must  rest,  and  which  were  declared  in  no  uncertain 
tones  by  Mr.  Cass,  who,  while  Secretary  of  State,  in  185.°, 
announced  that  "  What  the  United  States  want  in  Central 
America,  next  to  the  happiness  of  its  people,  is  the  security 
and  neutrality  of  the  interoceanic  routes  which  lead 
through  it." 

The  construction  of  three  transcontinental  lines  of  railway, 
all  in  successful  operation,  wholly  within  our  territory  and 
uniting  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  Oceans,  has  been  accom 
panied  by  results  of  a  most  interesting  and  impressive  nature, 
and  has  created  new  conditions,  not  in  the  routes  of  commerce 
only,  but  in  political  geography,  which  powerfully  affect  our 


524  M ISC  ELL  A  NEO  US 

relations  toward  and  necessarily  increase  our  interests  in  any 
transisthmian  route  which  may  be  opened  and  employed  for 
the  ends  of  peace  and  traffic,  or,  in  other  contingencies,  for 
uses  inimical  to  both. 

Transportation  is  a  factor  in  the  cost  of  commodities  scarcely 
second  to  that  of  their  production,  and  weighs  as  heavily  upon 
the  consumer. 

Our  experience  already  has  proved  the  great  importance  of 
having  the  competition  between  land  carriage  and  water  car 
riage  fully  developed,  each  acting  as  a  protection  to  the  pub 
lic  against  the  tendencies  to  monopoly  which  are  inherent  in 
the  consolidation  of  wealth  and  power  in  the  hands  of  vast 
corporations. 

These  suggestions  may  serve  to  emphasize  what  I  have 
already  said  on  the  score  of  the  necessity  of  a  neutralization 
of  any  interoceanic  transit ;  and  this  can  only  be  accomplished 
by  making  the  uses  of  the  route  open  to  all  nations  and  subject 
to  the  ambitions  and  warlike  necessities  of  none. 


VII. 

THE    RIGHT   OF    EXPATRIATION. 

(From  the  First  Annual  Message,  December,  1885.) 

While  recognizing  the  right  of  expatriation,  no  statutory- 
provision  exists  providing  means  for  renouncing  citizenship 
by  an  American  citizen,  native-born  or  naturalized,  nor  for 
terminating  and  vacating  an  improper  acquisition  of  citizen 
ship.  Even  a  fraudulent  decree  of  naturalization  cannot 
now  be  canceled.  The  privilege  and  franchise  of  American 
citizenship  should  be  granted  with  care,  and  extended  to  those 
only  who  intend  in  good  faith  to  assume  its  duties  and  respon 
sibilities  when  attaining  its  privileges  and  benefits;  it  should 
be  withheld  from  those  who  merely  go  through  the  forms  of 
naturalization  with  the  intent  of  escaping  the  duties  of  their 
original  allegiance  without  taking  upon  themselves  those  of 


RECOMMENDA  7 'IONS.  525 

their  new  status,  or  who  may  acquire  the  rights  of  American 
citizenship  for  no  other  than  a  hostile  purpose  toward  their 
original  governments.  These  evils  have  had  many  flagrant 
illustrations. 

I  regard  with  favor  the  suggestion,  put  forth  by  one  of  my 
predecessors,  that  provision  be  made  for  a  central  bureau  of 
record  of  the  decrees  of  naturalization  granted  by  the  various 
courts  throughout  the  United  States  now  invested  with  that 
power. 

The  rights  which  spring  from  domicile  in  the  United  States, 
especially  when  coupled  with  a  declaration  of  intention  to 
become  a  citizen,  are  worthy  of  definition  by  statute.  The 
stranger  coining  hither  with  intent  to  remain,  establishing  his 
residence  in  our  midst,  contributing  to  the  general  welfare, 
and,  by  his  voluntary  act,  declaring  his  purpose  to  assume  the 
responsibilities  of  citizenship,  thereby  gains  an  inchoate  status 
which  legislation  may  properly  define.  The  laws  of  certain 
States  and  Territories  admit  a  domiciled  alien  to  the  local 
franchise,  conferring  on  him  the  rights  of  citizenship  to  a 
degree  which  places  him  in  the  anomalous  position  of  being  a 
citizen  of  a  State  and  yet  not  of  the  United  States  within  the 
purview  of  Federal  and  international  law. 

It  is  important,  within  the  scope  of  national  legislation,  to 
define  this  right  of  alien  domicile  as  distinguished  from  Fed 
eral  naturalization. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THANKSGIVING    PROCLAMATIONS. 
I. 

As  Governor  of  Neiv  York,  October  29,  1883. 

THE  people  of  our  State  should  continually  be  mindful  of 
their  dependence  upon  the  Supreme  Ruler  of  the  universe,  and 
grateful  for  his  goodness  and  mercy.  Without  his  guidance, 
the  efforts  of  man  are  in  vain  ;  and  from  his  forbearance  and 
kindness  comes  every  good  gift. 

And  while  they  should  thus  hold  in  constant  remembrance 
the  debt  of  gratitude  they  owe,  it  is  fit  and  proper,  and  in  ac 
cordance  with  established  custom,  that  a  day  should  be  annually 
set  apart  for  their  special  and  public  acknowledgment  of  the 
goodness  of  God. 

We  cannot  fail  to  recall,  at  this  time,  abundant  cause  for 
thankfulness.  During  the  year  just  passed,  we  have  been  pro 
tected  against  pestilence  and  dire  calamity;  peace  and  quiet 
have  reigned  within  our  borders  ;  the  supremacy  of  law  and 
order  has  been  complete  ;  plenteous  crops  have  rewarded  the 
toil  of  the  husbandman  ;  the  hum  of  busy  manufacture  has 
been  uninterrupted  ;  industry  in  every  department  of  labor 
has  brought  its  just  reward  ;  enterprises  of  great  magnitude  have 
been  completed,  adding  wealth  and  greatness  to  the  State  ; 
and  we  have  advanced  in  all  that  pertains  to  the  material, 
social,  and  educational  interests  of  our  people. 

I,  therefore,  hereby  designate  and  set  apart  Thursday,  the 
29th  day  of  November,  1883,  to  be  observed  by  the  people  of 
this  State  as  a  day  of  Thanksgiving  to  God  for  all  his  mercies, 

526 


THANKSGIVING  PROCLAMATIONS.  527 

and  humble  supplication  to  the  Throne  of  Grace  for  a  contin 
uance  of  Divine  favor. 

On  that  day  let  all  within  the  State  put  aside  their  business 
cares  and  ordinary  employments,  and  assemble  in  their  places 
of  worship  and  join  in  prayer  and  praise. 

And  let  us  be  prompted  to  deeds  of  charity,  by  the  acknowl 
edgment  of  the  gifts  of  God  ;  and  while  we  ask  of  him,  let  us 
not  close  our  hearts  to  the  appeals  of  poverty  and  distress. 


II. 

As  Governor  of  New  York,  November  8,  1 884. 

The  people  of  the  State  of  New  York  should  permit  neither 
their  ordinary  occupations  and  cares,  nor  any  unusual  cause  of 
excitement,  to  divert  their  minds  from  a  sober  and  humble 
acknowledgment  of  their  dependence  upon  Almighty  God  for 
all  that  contributes  to  their  happiness  and  contentment,  and 
for  all  that  secures  greatness  and  prosperity  to  our  proud  com 
monwealth. 

In  accordance  with  a  long-continued  custom,  I  hereby  ap 
point  and  designate  Thursday,  the  2yth  day  of  November,  1884, 
to  be  specially  observed  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and  praise. 
Let  all  the  people  of  the  State,  at  that  time,  forego  their  usual 
business  and  employments,  and  in  their  several  places  of  wor 
ship,  give  thanks  to  Almighty  God  for  all  that  he  has  done  for 
them.  Let  the  cheer  of  family  reunions  be  hallowed  by  a 
tender  remembrance  of  the  love  and  watchful  care  of  our 
Heavenly  Father  ;  and  in  the  social  gatherings  of  friends  and 
neighbors,  let  hearty  good  will  and  fellowship  be  chastened  by  a 
confession  of  the  kindness  and  mercy  of  God. 


52$  THANKSGIVING  PROCLAMATIONS. 

III. 

As  President  of  the   United  States,  November  2,  1885. 

The  American  people  have  always  abundant  cause  to  be 
thankful  to  Almighty  God,  whose  watchful  care  and  guiding 
hand  have  been  manifested  in  every  stage  of  their  national  life 
— guarding  and  protecting  them  in  time  of  peril,  and  safely 
leading  them  in  the  hour  of  darkness  and  of  danger. 

It  is  fitting  and  proper  that  a  nation  thus  favored  should,  on 
one  day  in  every  year,  for  that  purpose  especially  appointed, 
publicly  acknowledge  the  goodness  of  God,  and  return  thanks 
to  him  for  all  his  gracious  gifts. 

Therefore  I,  Grover  Cleveland,  President  of  the  United 
States  of  America,  do  hereby  designate  and  set  apart  Thurs 
day,  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  November  instant,  as  a  day  of 
public  Thanksgiving  and  Prayer  ;  and  do  invoke  the  observ 
ance  of  the  same  by  all  the  people  of  the  land. 

On  that  day  let  all  secular  business  be  suspended  ;  and  let 
the  people  assemble  in  their  usual  places  of  worship,  and  with 
prayer  and  songs  of  praise  devoutly  testify  their  gratitude  to 
the  Giver  of  every  good  and  perfect  gift  for  all  that  he  has 
done  for  us  in  the  year  that  has  passed  ;  for  our  preservation 
as  a  nation  and  for  our  deliverance  from  the  shock  and  danger 

o 

of  political  convulsion  ;  for  the  blessings  of  peace  and  for  our 
safety  and  quiet,  while  wars  and  rumors  of  wars  have  agitated 
and  afflicted  other  nations  of  the  earth  ;  for  our  security  against 
the  scourge  of  pestilence,  which  in  other  lands  has  claimed  its 
dead  by  thousands  and  filled  the  streets  with  mourners ;  for 
plenteous  crops  which  reward  the  labor  of  the  husbandman  and 
increase  our  nation's  wealth  ;  and  for  the  contentment  through 
out  our  borders  which  follows  in  the  train  of  prosperity  and 
abundance. 

And  let  there  also  be,  on  the  day  thus  set  apart,  a  reunion 
of  families,  sanctified  and  chastened  by  tender  memories  and 
associations  ;  and  let  the  social  intercourse  of  friends,  with 


7 '//.-/  NA'SG/  VING  PKOCLA  MA  T1ONS.  529 

pleasant  reminiscence,  renew  the  ties  of  affection  and  strengthen 
the  bonds  of  kindly  feeling. 

And  let  us  by  no  means  forget,  while  we  give  thanks  and 
enjoy  the  comforts  which  have  crowned  our  lives,  that  truly 
grateful  hearts  are  inclined  to  deeds  of  charity  ;  and  that  a  kind 
and  thoughtful  remembrance  of  the  poor  will  double  the  pleas 
ures  of  our  condition,  and  render  our  praise  and  thanksgiving 
more  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord. 


IV. 

As  President  of  the  United  States,  November  i,   1886. 

It  has  long  been  the  custom  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  on  a  day  in  each  year  especially  set  apart  for  that  pur 
pose  by  their  Chief  Executive,  to  acknowledge  the  goodness 
and  mercy  of  God,  and  to  invoke  his  continued  care  and  pro 
tection. 

In  observance  of  such  custom,  I,  Grover  Cleveland,  Presi 
dent  of  the  United  States,  do  hereby  designate  and  set  apart 
Thursday,  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  November  instant,  to  be  ob 
served  and  kept  as  a  day  of  Thanksgiving  and  Prayer. 

On  that  day  let  all  our  people  forego  their  accustomed  em 
ployments  and  assemble  in  their  usual  places  of  worship,  to 
give  thanks  to  the  Ruler  of  the  Universe  for  our  continued 
enjoyment  of  the  blessings  of  a  free  government,  for  a  renewal 
of  business  prosperity  throughout  our  land,  for  the  return 
which  has  rewarded  the  labor  of  those  who  till  the  soil,  and 
for  our  progress  as  a  people  in  all  that  makes  a  nation  great. 

And  while  we  contemplate  the  infinite  power  of  God  in 
earthquake,  flood,  and  storm,  let  the  grateful  hearts  of  those 
who  have  been  shielded  from  harm  through  his  mercy,  be 
turned  in  sympathy  and  kindness  toward  those  who  have  suf 
fered  through  his  visitations. 

Let  us  also  in  the  midst  of  our  thanksgiving  remember  the 


53°  THANKSGIVING  PROCLAMATIONS. 

poor  and  needy  with  cheerful  gifts  and  alms,  so  that  our  serv 
ice  may,  by  deeds  of  charity,  be  made  acceptable  in  the  sight 
of  the  Lord. 


V. 

As  President^  of  the  United  States,  October  25,  1887. 

The  goodness  and  the  mercy  of  God  which  have  followed 
the  American  people  during  all  the  days  of  the  past  year  claim 
their  grateful  recognition  and  humble  acknowledgment.  By 
his  omnipotent  power  he  has  protected  us  from  war  and  pes 
tilence,  and  from  every  national  calamity ;  by  his  gracious 
favor  the  earth  has  yielded  a  generous  return  to  the  labor  of 
the  husbandman,  and  every  path  of  honest  toil  has  led  to  com 
fort  and  contentment ;  by  his  loving-kindness  the  hearts  of 
our  people  have  been  replenished  with  fraternal  sentiment  and 
patriotic  endeavor,  and  by  his  unerring  guidance  we  have  been 
directed  in  the  way  of  national  prosperity. 

To  the.  end  that  we  may,  with  one  accord,  testify  our  grati 
tude  for  all  these  blessings,  I,  Grover  Cleveland,  President  of 
the  United  States,  do  hereby  designate  and  set  apart  Thursday, 
the  twenty-fourth  day  of  November  next,  as  a  day  of  thanks 
giving  and  prayer,  to  be  observed  by  all  the  people  of  the 
land. 

On  that  day  let  all  secular  work  and  employment  be  sus 
pended,  and  let  our  people  assemble  in  their  accustomed  places 
of  worship  and,  with  prayer  and  songs  of  praise,  give  thanks  to 
our  heavenly  Father  for  all  that  he  has  done  for  us,  while  we 
humbly  implore  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins  and  a  continuance 
of  his  mercy. 

Let  families  and  kindred  be  reunited  on  that  day,  and  let 
their  hearts,  filled  with  kindly  cheer  and  affectionate  remi 
niscence,  be  turned  in  thankfulness  to  the  Source  of  all  their 
pleasures  and  the  Giver  of  all  that  makes  the  day  glad  and 
joyous. 


THANKSGIVING  PROCLAMATIONS.  531 

And  in  the  midst  of  our  worship  and  our  happiness,  let  us 
remember  the  poor,  the  needy,  and  the  unfortunate,  and  by 
our  gifts  of  charity  and  ready  benevolence  let  us  increase  the 
number  of  those  who  with  grateful  hearts  shall  join  in  our 
thanksgiving. 

VI. 

As  President  of  the  United  States,  November  i,  1888. 

Constant  thanksgiving  and  gratitude  are  due  from  the  Amer 
ican  people  to  Almighty  God  for  his  goodness  and  mercy 
which  have  followed  them  since  the  day  he  made  them  a  nation 
and  vouchsafed  to  them  a  free  government.  With  loving- 
kindness  he  has  constantly  led  us  in  the  way  of  prosperity  and 
greatness.  He  has  not  visited  with  swift  punishment  our  short 
comings,  but  with  gracious  care  he  has  warned  us  of  our 
dependence  upon  his  forbearance,  and  has  taught  us  that 
obedience  to  his  holy  law  is  the  price  of  a  continuance  of  his 
precious  gifts. 

In  acknowledgment  of  all  that  God  has  done  for  us  as  a 
nation,  and  to  the  end  that  on  an  appointed  day,  the  united 
prayers  and  praise  of  a  grateful  country  may  reach  the  Throne 
of  Grace,  I,  Grover  Cleveland,  President  of  the  United  States, 
do  hereby  designate  and  set  apart  Thursday,  the  twenty-ninth 
day  of  November  instant,  as  a  day  of  thanksgiving  and  prayer, 
to  be  kept  and  observed  throughout  the  land. 

On  that  day  let  all  our  people  suspend  their  ordinary  work 
and  occupations,  and,  in  their  accustomed  places  of  worship, 
with  prayer  and  songs  of  praise,  render  thanks  to  God  for  all 
his  mercies,  for  the  abundant  harvests  which  have  rewarded 
the  toil  of  the  husbandman  during  the  year  that  has  passed, 
and  for  the  rich  rewards  that  have  followed  the  labors  of  our 
people  in  their  shops  and  their  marts  of  trade  and  traffic.  Let 
us  give  thanks  for  peace  and  for  social  order  and  contentment 
within  our  borders,  and  for  our  advancement  in  all  that  adds 
to  national  greatness. 


5  3  2  THANK  SGI  VING   PKOCLA  MATIi  WS. 

And,  mindful  of  the  afflictive  dispensation  with  which  a  por 
tion  of  our  land  has  been  visited,  let  us,  while  we  humble  our-' 
selves  before  the  power  of  God,  acknowledge  his  mercy  in 
setting  bounds  to  the  deadly  march  of  pestilence,  and  let  our 
hearts  be  chastened  by  sympathy  with  our  fellow-countrymen 
who  have  suffered  and  who  mourn. 

And  as  we  return  thanks  for  all  the  blessings  which  we  have 
received  from  the  hands  of  our  heavenly  Father,  let  us  not 
forget  that  he  has  enjoined  upon  us  charity  *  and  on  this  day 
of  thanksgiving  let  us  generously  remember  the  poor  and 
needy,  so  that  our  tribute  of  praise  and  gratitude  may  be 
acceptable  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

LETTERS    AND    SPEECHES    OF    A    PERSONAL    NATURE. 
I. 

Upon  his  Election  as  Governor  of  New  York, 

MAYOR'S  OFFICE, 

BUFFALO,  N.  Y.,  November  7,  1882. 
MY  DEAR  BROTHER  : 

1  have  just  voted.  I  sit  here  in  the  mayor's  office  alone, 
with  the  exception  of  an  artist  from  Frank  Leslie's  Newspaper, 
who  is  sketching  the  office.  If  mother  was  here  I  should  be 
writing  to  her,  and  I  feel  as  if  it  were  time  for  me  to  write  to 
someone  who  will  believe  what  I  write. 

I  have  been  for  some  time  in  the  atmosphere  of  certain  suc 
cess,  so  that  I  have  been  sure  that  I  should  assume  the  duties 
of  the  high  office  for  which  I  have  been  named.  I  have  tried 
hard,  in  the  light  of  this  fact,  to  appreciate  properly  the  re 
sponsibilities  that  will  rest  upon  me,  and  they  are  much, 
too  much  underestimated.  But  the  thought  that  has  troubled 
me  is,  can  I  well  perform  my  duties,  and  in  such  a  manner  as 
to  do  some  good  to  the  people  of  the  State  ?  I  know  there  is 
room  for  it,  and  I  know  that  I  am  honest  and  sincere  in  my 
desire  to  do  well  ;  but  the  question  is  whether  I  know  enough 
to  accomplish  what  I  desire. 

The  social  life  which  seems  to  await  me  has  also  been  a  sub 
ject  of  much  anxious  thought.  I  have  a  notion  that  I  can 
regulate  that  very  much  as  I  desire  ;  and,  if  I  can,  I  shall  spend 
very  little  time  in  the  purely  ornamental  part  of  the  office.  In 
point  of  fact,  I  will  tell  you,  first  of  all  others,  the  policy  I  intend 
to  adopt,  and  that  is,  to  make  the  matter  a  business  engagement 

533 


534  LETTERS  AND  SPEECHES 

between  the  people  of  the  State  and  myself,  in  which  the  obliga 
tion  on  my  side  is  to  perform  the  duties  assigned  me  with  an 
eye  single  to  the  interest  of  my  employers.  I  shall  have  no 
idea  of  re-election,  or  any  higher  political  preferment  in  my 
head,  but  be  very  thankful  and  happy  if  I  can  well  serve  one 
term  as  the  people's  Governor.  Do  you  know  that  if  mother 
were  alive,  I  should  feel  so  much  safer?  I  have  always  thought 
that  her  prayers  had  much  to  do  with  my  success.  I  shall  ex 
pect  you  all  to  help  me  in  that  way.  Give  my  love  to  — 

and  to ,  if  she  is  with  you,  and  believe  me, 

Your  affectionate  brother, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 
REV.  WILLIAM  N.  CLEVELAND. 


II. 

On  a  Visit  to  Buffalo,  October  2,  1884. 

I  can  hardly  tell  the  people  of  Buffalo  how  I  rejoice  to-night, 
and  how  grateful  I  am  for  this  demonstration  of  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  my  friends  and  fellow-citizens.  I  have  resided 
among  you,  and  in  the  city  where  all  my  success  in  private  life 
has  been  achieved,  for  nearly  thirty  years.  To-night  I  come  to 
you,  after  the  longest  absence  that  has  occurred  in  all  that 
time,  and  yet  within  the  few  weeks  that  have  passed  since  I 
saw  you  last,  an  event  has  happened  of  supreme  importance  to 
me,  and  that  places  me  within  the  nation's  gaze. 

The  honor  it  has  brought  me  I  ask  my  fellow-townsmen  to 
share,  while  I  acknowledge  with  grateful  heart  all  that  they 
have  in  the  past  done  for  me.  But  two  short  years  ago  you 
stood  steadily  by  my  side  in  every  effort  of  mine,  as  the  Chief 
Executive  of  our  city,  to  advance  its  interests  and  welfare. 
Whatever  I  was  able  to  accomplish  of  value  to  this  community 
was  largely  due  to  your  strong  and  intelligent  support,  nor  can 
I  ever  forget  the  generous  indorsement  you  gave  my  candidacy 


OF  A   PERSONAL  NATURE.  535 

for  the  high  office  I  now  hold  in  the  State,  and  I  assure  you 
that  in  its  administration  I  have  received  no  greater  encour 
agement  than  the  approval  of  friends  at  home. 

What  I  have  seen  and  heard  to-night  has  touched  me  deeply. 
It  tells  me  that  my  neighbors  are  still  my  friends,  and  as 
sures  me  that  I  have  not  been  altogether  unsuccessful  in  my 
efforts  to  deserve  their  confidence  and  attachment.  In  years 
to  come  I  shall  deem  myself  not  far  wrong  if  I  still  retain  their 
good  opinion  ;  and  if  surrounding  cares  and  perplexities 
bring  anxiety  and  vexation,  I  shall  find  solace  and  comfort  in 
the  memory  of  the  days  spent  here  and  in  recalling  the  kind 
ness  of  my  Buffalo  friends. 

But  other  friends  are  here  to-night,  and  to  all  who  tender  me 
their  kindly  welcome  I  extend  a  heartfelt  greeting  as  citizens 
with  me  of  the  greatest  commonwealth  in  the  sisterhood  of 
States,  and  one  immensely  interested  in  the  general  weal.  Be 
cause  I  love  my  State  and  her  people,  I  cannot  refrain  from  re 
minding  you  that  she  should  be  in  the  van  of  every  movement 
which  promises  a  safer  and  better  administration  of  the  general 
government,  so  closely  related  to  her  prosperity  and  greatness. 
And  let  me  leave  you  with  the  thought  that  your  safety  lies  in 
impressing  upon  the  endeavor  of  those  intrusted  with  the 
guardianship  of  your  rights  and  interests,  a  pure,  patriotic,  and 
exacting  popular  sentiment.  The  character  of  the  government 
can  hardly  rise  higher  than  the  source  from  which  it  springs, 
and  the  integrity  and  faithfulness  of  public  servants  are  not 
apt  to  be  greater  than  the  public  demand. 


5.5''*  LETTERS  AND   SPEECHES 

III. 
To  a  Politician  who  had  Deceived  Him* 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION, 
WASHINGTON,  August  i,  1885. 
DEAR  SIR  : 

I  have  read  your  letter  with  amazement  and  indignation. 
There  is  one — but  one — mitigation  to  the  perfidy  which  your 
letter  discloses,  and  that  is  found  in  the  fact  you  confess  your 
share  in  it.  I  don't  know  whether  you  are  a  Democrat  or  not, 
but  if  you  are  the  crime  which  you  confess  is  the  more  un 
pardonable. 

The  idea  that  this  administration,  pledged  to  give  the  people 
better  officers  and  engaged  in  a  hand-to-hand  fight  with  the 
bad  elements  of  both  parties,  should  be  betrayed  by  those  who 
ought  to  be  worthy  of  implicit  trust,  is  atrocious,  and  such 
treason  to  the  people  and  to  the  party  ought  to  be  punished  by 
imprisonment. 

Your  confession  comes  too  late  to  be  of  immediate  use  to 
the  public  service,  and  I  can  only  say  that,  while  this  is  not  the 
first  time  I  have  been  deceived  and  misled  by  lying  and  treach 
erous  representations,  you  are  the  first  one  that  has  so  frankly 

*  The  indignant  letter  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  here  given  was  written  in  an 
swer  to  one  sent  him  by  a  prominent  politician  in  one  of  the  States  of  the 
Pacific  Coast.  In  order  to  make  clearer  his  cause  of  indignation  the  letter 
to  which  the  above  is  an  answer  is  given  herewith,  only  concealing  the  names 
of  persons  still  living. 

To  THE  PRESIDENT,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 
DEAR  SIK  : 

This   community  read   the   announcement   of to  the judgeship  with 

astonishment  and  regret,  if  not  pain  ;  and  none  were  more  astonished  than  those  who  had 
signed  his  petition,  and  I  regret  to  say  that  my  name  is  to  be  found  upon  it.  I  have  re 
fused  several  whom  I  knew  to  be  unfit,  but  I  signed  this  one,  thinking  it  would  never  be 
considered,  and  not  for  one  moment  believing  the  appointment  was  possible.  When  first 
presented  to  me  I  put  him  off  and  hoped  to  escape,  but  he  came  again  with  it ;  and,  with 
others,  I  signed  it,  thinking  there  was  no  chance  of  its  reaching  even  a  consideration.  It 
was  signed  by  many  prominent  men,  who  hated  to  refuse,  and  hoped  and  thought  it  would 
result  in  nothing. 

Yours  very  respecHfully, 


OF  A    PERSONAL   NATURE.  537 

owned  his  grievous  fault.     If  any  comfort   is  to  be  extracted 
from  this  assurance  you  are  welcome  to  it. 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


IV. 

At  his  Boyhood  Home,  Clinton,  N*   Y.,  July  13,  1887. 

I  am  by  no  means  certain  of  my  standing  here  among  those 
who  celebrate  the  centennial  of  Clinton's  existence  as  a  village. 
My  recollections  of  the  place  reach  backward  but  about 
thirty-six  years,  and  my  residence  here  covered  a  very  brief 
period.  But  these  recollections  are  fresh  and  distinct  to-day, 
and  pleasant  too,  though  not  entirely  free  from  somber  color 
ing. 

It  was  here,  in  the  school  at  the  foot  of  College  Hill,  that  I 
began  my  preparation  for  college  life  and  enjoyed  the  antici 
pation  of  a  collegiate  education.  We  had  two  teachers  in  our 
school.  One  became  afterward  a  judge  in  Chicago,  and  the 
other  passed  through  the  legal  profession  to  the  ministry,  and 
within  the  last  two  years  was  living  farther  West.  1  read  a 
little  Latin  with  two  other  brtys  in  the  class.  I  think  I  floun 
dered  through  four  books  of  the  ^Eneid.  The  other  boys  had 
nice  large  modern  editions  of  Virgil,  with  big  print  and  plenty 
of  notes  to  help  one  over  the  hard  places.  Mine  was  a  little 
old-fashioned  copy  which  my  father  used  before  me,  with  no 
notes,  and  which  was  only  translated  by  hard  knocks.  I  be 
lieve  I  have  forgiven  those  other  boys  for  their  persistent  re 
fusal  to  allow  me  the  use  of  the  notes  in  their  books.  At  any 
rate,  they  do  not  seem  to  have  been  overtaken  by  any  dire 
retribution,  for  one  of  them  is  now  a  rich  and  prosperous  law 
yer  in  Buffalo,  and  the  other  is  a  professor  in  your  college  and 
the  orator  of  to-day's  celebration.  The  struggles  with  ten 
lines  of  Virgil,  which  at  first  made  up  my  daily  task,  are  amus 
ing  as  remembered  now  ;  but  with  them  I  am  also  forced  to 
remember  that,  instead  of  being  the  beginning  of  the  higher 


53#  LETTERS  AND   SPEECHES 

education  for  which  I  honestly  longed,  they  occurred  near  the 
end  of  my  school  advantages.  This  suggests  a  disappoint 
ment  which  no  lapse  of  time  can  alleviate,  and  a  depri 
vation  I  have  sadly  felt  with  every  passing  year. 

I  remember  Benoni  Butler  and  his  store.  I  don't  know 
whether  he  was  an  habitual  poet  or  not,  but  I  heard  him 
recite  one  poem  of  his  own  manufacture  which  embodied  an 
account  of  a  travel  to  or  from  Clinton  in  the  early  days.  I  can 
recall  but  two  lines  of  this  poem,  as  follows  : 

Paris  Hill  next  came  in  sight  ; 
And  there  we  tarried  overnight. 

I  remember  the  next-door  neighbors,  Doctors  Bissell  and 
Scollard — and  good,  kind  neighbors  they  were,  too— not  your 
cross,  crabbed  kind  who  could  not  bear  to  see  a  boy  about. 
It  always  seemed  to  me  that  they  drove  very  fine  horses  ;  and 
for  that  reason  I  thought  they  must  be  extremely  rich. 

I  don't  know  that  I  should  indulge  further  recollections 
that  must  seem  very  little  like  centennial  history  ;  but  I  want 
to  establish  as  well  as  I  can  my  right  to  be  here.  I  might 
speak  of  the  college  faculty,  who  cast  such  a  pleasing  though 
sober  shade  of  dignity  over  thS  place,  and  who,  with  other 
educated  and  substantial  citizens,  made  up  the  best  of  social 
life.  I  was  a  boy  then,  and  slightly  felt  the  atmosphere  of  this 
condition  ;  but,  notwithstanding,  I  believe  I  absorbed  a  lasting 
appreciation  of  the  intelligence  and  refinement  which  made 
this  a  delightful  home. 

I  know  that  you  will  bear  with  me,  my  friends,  if  I  yield  to 
the  impulse  which  the  mention  of  home  creates,  and  speak  of 
my  own  home  here,  and  how  through  the  memories  which 
cluster  about  it  I  may  claim  a  tender  relationship  to  your  vil 
lage.  Here  it  was  that  our  family  circle  entire,  parents  and 
children,  lived  day  after  day  in  loving  and  affectionate  con 
verse  ;  and  here,  for  the  last  time,  we  met  around  the  family 
altar  and  thanked  God  that  our  household  was  unbroken  by 
death  or  separation.  We  never '  met  together  in  any  other 


OF  A    PERSONAL  MATURE.  539 

home  after  leaving  this,  and  Death  followed  closely  our  de 
parture.  And  thus  it  is  that,  as  with  advancing  years  I  survey 
the  havoc  Death  has  made,  and  as  the  thoughts  of  my  early 
home  become  more  sacred,  the  remembrance  of  this  pleasant 
spot,  so  related,  is  revived  and  chastened. 

I  can  only  add  my  thanks  for  the  privilege  of  being  with 
you  to-day,  and  wish  for  the  village  of  Clinton  in  the  future  a 
continuation  and  increase  of  the  blessing  of  the  past. 


V. 

At  a    Reception   given   by    Early    Friends   and    Associates    at 
Buffalo,  N.  F.,  May  n,  1892. 

MY  FRIENDS  :  « 

I  have  been  striving  for  several  years  to  believe  that  I  am 
still  on  the  bright  and  sunny  side  of  the  time  which  separates 
middle  age  from  the  last  declivity  of  life  ;  but  now  and  here, 
amid  the  memories  of  early  manhood,  and  recalling  the  scenes 
of  thirty-five  years  ago,  I  yield  the  struggle  and  enroll  myself 
among  those  who  are  no  longer  young. 

You  need  have  no  fear  from  this  introduction,  that  I  intend 
to  indulge  in  the  tedious  garrulity  which  is  sometimes  kindly 
tolerated  on  account  of  the  privileges  and  immunities  which  are 
accorded  to  old  age.  I  do,  however,  intend  to  hint  that  I  have 
reached  the  time  in  life  when  I  begin  to  enjoy  the  compensation 
of  advancing  years  which  is  born  of  retrospection  ;  when  it  dis 
cards  all  past  irritations,  and  dwells  only  upon  the  things  in 
memory's  keeping  that  are  pleasant  and  consoling. 

My  mind  at  this  moment  is  full  of  the  recollection  of  experi 
ences  connected  with  my  early  life  in  Buffalo.  Some  of  these 
experiences  were  rugged,  but  they  were  healthful  ;  and  they 
appear  to  me  now  robbed  of  everything  save  the  features  that 
make  them  welcome  memories.  I  recall,  too,  hosts  of  the  good 
friends  who  were  about  me  in  those  days.  The  living  attach 
ments  of  many  of  them  I  still  cherish  as  priceless  possessions  ; 


54°  LETTERS  AND   SPEECHES 

and  many  others  I  loved  until  inexorable  death  decreed  our  se 
parations.  I  often  look  at  a  picture,  among  my  keepsakes,  now- 
more  than  thirty  years  old,  which  represents  a  group  composed 
of  seven  of  Buffalo's  young  men — all  close  companions,  all  full 
of  the  hopes  and  ambitions  of  manhood's  early  days,  and  all 
having  in  full  sight  the  high  aims  and  purposes  that  beckon  to 
success.  Of  this  group  of  friends  five  are  dead — only  one  of 
them  survives  with  me.  I  shall  not  trust  myself  to  speak  of 
these  dead  friends,  nor  will  I  attempt  to  express  all  that  their 
friendship  meant  to  me  ;  but  you  will  not  wonder  that  this 
picture  makes  me  feel  that  I  have  lived  a  long  time. 

As  I  turn  from  these  saddening  reflections  and  glance  over 
this  company,  I  am  still  further  and  more  cheerfully  reminded 
of  the  years  which  have  passed  since  my  life  in  Buffalo  began. 

I  see  here  Mr.  BisselF.  I  remember  well  the  day  he  called 
at  the  law  office  where  I  was  a  partner,  and  in  which  he  ex 
pected  to  begin  the  study  of  his  profession,  and  modestly  said 
he  had  called  to  learn  something  of  the  work  expected  of  him 
as  a  clerk  and  student.  He  wrote  a  good  hand,  and  was  a  very 
obedient,  industrious  young  man.  I  am  glad  to  know  that  he 
has  grown  to  be  a  very  fair  lawyer,  and  is  a  respectable  citizen. 
I  understand  he  has  lately  married,  which  is  something  that  for 
the  last  five  or  six  years  I  have  thought  was  a  very  proper  thing 
for  a  man  of  his  age — or  even  my  age — to  do. 

When  I  look  at  Mr.  Locke  and  think  of  the  position  he  now 
occupies  in  your  community,  lam  reminded  of  his  terrible  disap 
pointment  when  he  failed  to  secure  the  place  of  assistant  district 
attorney  of  this  county.  I  am  pleased  to  know  that  he  has 
done  fairly  well  without  it,  and  I  believe  he  is  entirely  cured  of 
his  thirst  for  political  office. 

I  remember  when  Mr.  Milburn,  the  gentleman  who  so  grace 
fully  presides  on  this  occasion,  was  admitted  to  practice  as  a 
lawyer.  He  was  a  handsome  young  man,  and  I  observe  he  has 
not  altogether  outgrown  it.  He  usually  had  a  law  book  under 
his  arm  in  the  street,  and  I  used  to  wonder  if  he  was  trying  to 
absorb  law  through  his  armpits.  It  is  quite  clear  that  he  has 


OF  A    PERSONAL   NATURE.  54 » 

managed  to  get  a  good  deal  of  it  into  his  head  through   some 
channel. 

Just  at  this  point  it  occurs  to  me  that  I  have  allowed  myself 
to  get  on  a  wrong  tack,  and  that  I  should  have  presented  these 
latter  recollections  as  illustrating  how  rapidly  Buffalo's  soil  and 
atmosphere  develop  its  young  men,  instead  of  referring  to  them 
as  proofs  of  my  own  longevity.  I  am  almost  sorry  that  I  have 
assumed  to  speak  as  though  I  was  entitled  to  be  regarded  as  an 
old  citizen  of  Buffalo  ;  for,  to  be  frank  with  you,  I  do  not  remem 
ber  Joseph  Ellicott  nor  the  first  Mayor  of  the  city,  who  held 
that  office  in  1832.  I  recall  distinctly,  however,  the  celebration 
of  the  city's  semi-centennial  fifty  years  afterward,  and  the  work 
George  Hayward  did  to  make  it  a  success  ought  to  make  him 
remember  it,  too.  I  was  very  well  acquainted  with  the  man 
who  was  Mayor  at  that  time.  I  believe  lie  dabbled  a  little 
afterward  in  State  and  National  politics.  At  any  rate,  I  know 
he  had  a  job  for  four  years  in  government  employ,  and  then, 
like  many  others  in  public  position,  when  there  came  a  change 
of  Administration  he  lost  his  place.  He  was  accused,  I  am 
told,  of  talking  too  much  about  the  tariff,  and  was  charged  with 
attempting  to  ruin  the  country  in  sundry  and  divers  ways.  In 
point  of  fact,  however,  I  am  convinced  that,  notwithstanding  all 
we  hear  of  civil  service  reform,  he  was  discharged  for  purely 
partisan  reasons,  and  because  someone  else  wanted  his  place. 
He  did  a  great  deal  of  hard  work  and  was  much  perplexed  and 
troubled  ;  but  I  know  that  his  greatest  trial  was  his  alienation  of 
many  personal  and  political  friends  in  making  appointments  to 
office.  It  was  impossible  to  avoid  this,  and  it  will  continue  to 
be  impossible  in  all  like  cases  so  long  as  the  applicant  for  office 
and  the  man  who  is  charged  with  the  responsibility  of  appoint 
ment  occupy  such  entirely  different  points  of  observation — and 
just  so  long  as  public  duty  may  sometimes  stand  in  the  way  of 
personal  friendship. 

I  cannot  forbear  saying  to  you  before  I  conclude  that  I  have 
never  forgotten  the  assurance  I  gave  in  the  presence  of  thousands 
of  my  Buffalo  friends,  during  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1884, 


542  LETTERS  AND    .S77-:/-.C7/A\9 

to  the  effect  that,  whatever  the  future  might  have  in  store  for  me, 
I  should  endeavor  so  to  perform  my  duty  as  to  merit  their  ap 
proval  and  friendship.  As  I  visit  these  friends  again,  self-ex 
amination  brings  home  to  me  no  reproaches.  I  know  that  I 
have  done  no  violence  to  the  sentiments  and  resolutions 
which,  when  I  lived  among  you,  received  your  approval  and 
indorsement. 

I  feel  that  I  can  but  feebly  express  my  appreciation  of  the 
courtesy  of  this  occasion — because  language  is  weak.  You 
must  know  how  I  have  enjoyed  the  kindly  greeting  of  my  old 
friends  ;  and  I  hope  I  need  not  tell  you  how  it  delights  me  to 
witness  the  growth  and  increased  beauty  of  my  old  home.  I 
assure  you  that  from  the  fullness  of  a  grateful  heart,  I  wish  for 
the  City  of  Buffalo  boundless  prosperity  and  advancement, 
and,  for  the  people  of  Buffalo,  Heaven's  choicest  blessings  and 
the  happiness  and  contentment  which  find  their  abiding-place  in 
generous  and  unselfish  hearts. 


VI. 

On  being  Received  into  Fellowship  by  his  Neighbors,  at 
Sandwich,  Mass.,  July  25,   1891. 

MR.   CHAIRMAN  AND  LADIES  AND  GENTLEMEN: 

More  than  eighteen  hundred  years  ago  a  lawyer  pertly  asked 
the  Divine  Teacher,  "And  who  is  my  neighbor?"  The  answer 
given  to  this  question  is  quite  familiar  to  us,  and  is  embodied 
in  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan.  I  hasten  to  assure  you 
that  this  parable  is  here  introduced  for  the  lesson  it  teaches 
rather  than  for  the  purpose  of  suggesting  that  its  incidents 
have  any  appropriateness  to  this  occasion  or  its  surroundings. 
I  see  no  similarity  between  my  situation  and  that  of  the  man 
who  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho  and  fell  among 
thieves. 

Whatever  unfavorable  impression  may  be  prevalent  concern 
ing  dog-day  politics  and  politicians,  which  I  left  behind  me,  1 


OF  A    PERSONAL   NATURE.  543 

am  convinced  that  if  there  were  a  chapter  written  about  the 
thieves  of  Cape  Cod,  it  would  be  as  short  and  as  much  to  the 
point  as  the  chapter  on  the  snakes  of  Ireland,  which  began  and 
ended  in  the  single  sentence,  "There  are  no  snakes  in  Ire 
land."  I  confess  I  have  occasionally  in  my  journeying  seen  a 
Levite  pass  by  on  the  other  side,  but  that  was  before  I  reached 
Barnstable  County,  and  at  a  time  when  I  cared  but  little 
whether  he  came  on  my  side  of  the  road  or  the  other.  But  in 
the  parable  only  one  Good  Samaritan  is  mentioned  as  having 
compassion  on  the  man  who  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to 
Jericho,  while  the  man  who  came  down  from  New  York  to 
Cape  Cod  and  Barnstable  County  has  been  surrounded  by 
them  ever  since  he  started. 

I  suppose  that  when  you  greet  me  as  your  neighbor,  to-day, 
you  have  in  mind  the  fact  that  I  have  come  among  you  to 
spend  at  least  a  large  part  of  each  year,  and  that  I  intend  to 
maintain  this  sort  of  residence  here  as  long  as  the  expense  of 
farming  and  fishing  enables  rne,  from  a  slender  purse,  to  meet 
your  rate  of  taxation  and  the  cost  of  provisions.  In  the  mean 
time  I  declare  my  intention  to  be  a  good  neighbor.  No  quar 
rels  can  arise  over  my  line  fences,  for  I  have  none.  I  keep  no 
chickens,  and  my  cattle  do  not  run  at  large.  I  suppose  I  have 
pretty  decided  political  opinions,  and  I  judge  from  the  election 
returns  of  this  county  that  they  are  not  such  as  have  heretofore 
received  the  utmost  sympathy  and  encouragement  in  this 
particular  locality.  Notwithstanding,  however,  my  positive 
knowledge  that  the  large  majority  of  my  new  neighbors  are  in 
a  sad  state  of  delusion  politically,  I  shall  not  quarrel  with 
them  on  this  subject,  nor  permit  myself  to  become  a  political 
scold.  I  must  be  peaceful  and  neighborly,  even  if  I  see  my 
neighbors  go  to  political  destruction  before  my  eyes.  Besides, 
1  think  there  are  prudential  reasons  why  I  should,  in  present 
circumstances,  be  politically  docile.  To  be  sure  I  have  not, 
like  the  man  who  started  for  Jericho,  fallen  among  thieves; 
but  I  know  perfectly  well  that  I  have  politically  fallen  among 
those  who  are  too  many  for  me,  and  that  only  my  own  peace- 


544  LETTERS  AND   SPEECHES 

fulness  or  many  conversions  to  my  side  in  Barnstable  County 
can  secure  my  immunity  from  being  stripped  of  my  political 
raiment  and  wounded  and  left  half  dead,  as  was  the  case  with 
the  man  from  Jerusalem.  While  I  do  not  want  to  tempt  such 
a  fate,  I  confess  that  my  political  convictions  are  so  fixed  that 
1  can  hardly  avoid  dwelling  upon  them  even  here.  Some 
things  we  can  certainly  do  safely  and  properly.  We  can  be 
tolerant  of  one  another.  We  can  constantly  test  our  political 
beliefs  by  the  light  of  patriotism,  good  citizenship,  and  true 
Americanism,  and  we  can  be  brave  enough  and  honest  enough 
to  follow  where  they  lead.  We  shall  thus  elevate  our  political 
efforts  and  find  incentives  to  activity  in  a  determination  to  aid 
in  making  our  country  as  great  as  it  ought  to  be,  and  in  secur 
ing  to  ourselves  and  our  fellow-countrymen  the  happiness  and 
prosperity  due  to  all  of  us  under  a  free  government  by  the 
people.  If  our  political  endeavor  is  thus  directed,  we  shall 
rid  ourselves  of  the  blindness  and  bigotry  which  accept  unrea 
soning  party  association  as  a  sufficient  guide  to  political  action, 
and  which  count  the  spoils  of  partisan  success  the  sole  object 
of  political  struggle.  So,  though  we  may  differ  in  party  affilia 
tion,  if  we  thoughtfully  and  sincerely  believe  and  act,  we  may 
still  be  the  best  of  neighbors,  bound  together  by  an  unselfish 
willingness  to  forego  special  advantages  which  can  only  be 
gained  at  the  expense  of  our  fellows,  and  all  engage,  with 
hearty  co-operation,  in  the  achievement  of  our  country's  high 
destiny. 

I  am  inclined  at  this  point  to  suggest  to  you  the  lesson  of 
the  parable  with  which  I  began.  It  teaches  that  a  neighbor  is 
not  necessarily  one  whose  residence  is  near,  and  that  kindness 
and  consideration  make  men  neighbors.  The  Samaritan  was 
the  neighbor  of  his  robbed  and  wounded  fellow-man,  not 
because  he  lived  near  him,  but  because  in  his  need  he  had 
compassion  on  him  and  bound  up  his  wounds  and  cared  for 
him.  Indeed,  we  all  know  that  the  worst  quarrels  often  arise 
and  the  most  bitter  malice  and  resentment  often  rage,  among 
those  whose  homes  are  adjoining.  These  are  sometimes  called 


OF  A   PERSONAL   NATURE.  545 

bad  neighbors;  but  in  my  opinion  they  ought  not  to  be  called 
neighbors  at  all. 

You  are  by  no  means  to  suppose,  from  what  has  been  said, 
that  I  in  the  least  fail  to  appreciate  my  good  fortune  in  being 
an  almost  fully  fledged  resident  of  Cape  Cod  and  Barnstable 
County.  I  prize  my  home  here  so  much  that  I  actually  look 
forward,  with  trepidation,  to  the  time  when  I  shall  temporarily 
leave  it,  fearing  that  in  my  absence  some  envious  mortal  from 
a  distant  and  benighted  quarter  may,  in  some  manner,  rob  me 
of  it.  The  wonder  is  that  the  entire  American  people  do  not 
flock  hither  and  attempt  to  take  possession  of  all  our  domain 
in  true  Oklahoma  style.  Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  some  of 
our  suburbs  and  surroundings.  We  have  located  Boston  just 
far  enough  away  to  be  a  convenient  trading-place,  and  yet  not 
near  enough  to  annoy  us  with  its  noise  and  dirt,  nor  to  per 
mit  its  children  to  damage  our  cranberry  bogs.  Though  we 
know  that  the  Pilgrims  landed  in  Barnstable  County,  we  see  fit 
to  maintain  Plymouth  Rock  just  far  enough  outside  to  serve 
as -a  stimulus  to  our  patriotism  without  being  bothered  by  the 
strangers  who  visit  the  spot.  We  keep  the  waters  of  Buzzard's 
Bay  clean  and  pure  for  fishing  purposes,  and  do  not  propose  to 
have  our  preserve  stirred  up  and  contaminated  by  the  inflow 
of  other  waters  through  the  Cape  Cod  Canal. 

We  pity  the  deluded  men  and  women  who  know  nothing  of 
Barnstable  County,  and  who  have  doubts  regarding  the  fertility 
and  productiveness  of  our  soil.  Cape  Cod  never  fails  to 
respond  to  intelligent  husbandry,  though  we  do  not  expect 
immunity  from  the  depression  in  farming  occupations  which 
afflicts  our  agricultural  brethren  in  other  localities.  We  make 
no  complaint  at  such  times,  for  it  is  easy  to  beat  our  plow 
shares  into  fishing-hooks,  and  we  know  that  when  farming  does 
not  pay,  neither  drouth  nor  destructive  insects  will  prevent  the 
fish  from  biting.  The  delightful  healthfulness  of  our  climate 
is  so  perfect  that  the  practice  of  medicine  is  the  one  occupa 
tion  which  never  thrives.  Recreation  in  every  sensible  and 
wholesome  variety  crowds  upon  us,  and,  free  from  vain  and 


546  LETTERS  AND   SPEECHES 

distracting  care,   we  enjoy  with    thankfulness  the  peace  and 
quietude  which  here  have  their  abiding-place. 

With  a  heart  full  of  gratitude  for  the  cordiality  and  consid 
eration  which  you  have  at  all  times  extended  to  me,  I  have, 
with  the  utmost  sincerity,  attempted  to  demonstrate  my  appre 
ciation  of  all  I  enjoy  among  you,  and  to  approve  myself  in  your 
sight  as  worthy  to  be  admitted  to  free  fellowship  in  the  Cape 
Cod  community.  If  more  is  needed  to  prove  my  complete 
devotion  to  the  guild,  let  me  remind  you  of  the  saying,  "A 
man  is  known  by  the  company  he  keeps."  If  he  is  born  and 
reared  amid  certain  conditions  he  may,  from  habit  and  associa 
tion  and  without  severe  condemnation,  be  content  with  them 
and  the  companionship  which  they  impose,  though  such  com 
panionship  be  undesirable.  But  when,  after  mature  delibera 
tion  and  in  full  view  of  the  importance  and  significance  of  his 
choice  of  neighbors,  he  chooses  an  abode  with  complete  knowl 
edge  of  those  by  whom  he  is  to  be  surrounded,  the  adage  I 
have  quoted  should  be  applied  to  him  with  the  utmost  strict 
ness.  I  have  only  to  add  that  so  far  as  my  case  is  related  to 
the  people  of  Barnstable  County,  I  am  entirely  content  to  be 
thus  judged. 

I  must  remember  that  you  have  not  only  kindly  spoken  of 
me  as  your  neighbor,  but  have  also  referred  to  me  as  an 
ex-President.  I  have  never  failed  to  be  profoundly  sensible 
of  the  generosity  and  confidence  of  my  countrymen  in  making 
me  the  recipient  of  the  greatest  honor  that  can  be  bestowed 
upon  any  man;  but  what  I  remember  most  vividly  in  connec 
tion  with  the  great  office  of  President  is  its  responsibilities  and 
the  labor  and  anxiety  attending  an  attempt  to  do  the  work 
which  the  people  had  intrusted  to  me.  The  impress  made 
upon  the  mind  and  heart  of  one  who  stands  daily  face  to  face 
with  the  American  people,  charged  with  the  protection  of  their 
rights  and  the  advancement  of  their  varied  interests,  can  never 
be  effaced,  and  scarcely  gives  room  for  the  gratification  natu 
rally  supposed  to  attach  to  high  and  exalted  place.  I  am  led 
to  mention  in  this  connection,  as  a  spur  to  official  labor  and  as 


OF  A   PERSONAL   NATURE.  547 

a  sign  of  political  health,  the  watchfulness  of  the  people  and 
their  exactions  from  their  chosen  representative  to  whom  they 
have  confided  their  highest  trust.  If  they  are  exacting  and 
critical,  sometimes  almost  to  the  point  of  injustice,  this  is 
better  than  popular  heedlessness  and  indifference  concerning 
the  conduct  of  public  servants. 

It  has  always  seemed  to  me  that,  beyond  the  greatness  of  the 
office  and  the  supreme  importance  of  its  duties  and  responsi 
bilities,  the  most  impressive  thing  connected  with  the  Presi 
dency  is  the  fact  that  after  its  honor  has  been  relinquished,  and 
after  its  labor  and  responsibility  are  past,  we  simply  see  that  a 
citizen  whom  the  people  had  selected  from  their  ranks  to  do 
tfieir  bidding  for  a  time  and  to  be  their  agent  in  the  discharge 
of  public  duty,  has  laid  aside  the  honor  and  the  work  of  the 
highest  office  in  the  world  and  has  returned  again  to  the  peo 
ple,  to  resume  at  their  side  the  ordinary  duties  which  pertain 
to  everyday  citizenship.  Here,  he  is,  or  should  be,  subject  to 
the  same  rules  of  behavior  which  apply  to  his  fellow-country 
men,  and  should  be  accorded  the  same  fair  and  decent  treat 
ment,  unless  he  has  in  some  way  forfeited  it. 

But  it  must  be  admitted  that  our  people  are  by  no  means 
united  in  their  ideas  concerning  the  place  which  our  ex-Presi 
dents  ought  to  occupy,  or  the  disposition  which  should  be  made 
of  them.  Of  course  the  subject  would  be  relieved  of  all  un 
certainty  and  embarrassment  if  every  President  would  die  at 
the  end  of  his  term.  This  does  not  seem,  however,  to  meet 
the  views  of  those  who  under  such  an  arrangement  would  be 
called  on  to  do  the  dying;  and  so  some  of  them  continue  to 
live,  and  thus  perpetuate  the  perplexity  of  those  who  burden 
themselves  with  plans  for  their  utilization  or  disposition. 

A  very  amusing  class  among  these  anxious  souls  make  us 
useful  by  laying  upon  our  shoulders  all  sorts  of  political  con 
spiracies.  If  they  are  to  be  believed,  we  are  constantly  en 
gaged  in  plotting  for  our  own  benefit  and  advancement,  and 
are  quite  willing,  for  the  sake  of  reaching  our  ends,  not  only 
to  destroy  the  party  to  which  we  belong,  but  to  subvert  popu- 


548  LETTERS  AND   SPEECHES 

lar  liberty  and  utterly  uproot  our  free  American  institutions. 
Others  seem  of  the  opinion  that  we  should  be  utilized  as 
orators  at  county  fairs  and  other  occasions  of  all  sorts  and  at 
all  sorts  of  places.  Some  think  we  should  interfere  in  every 
political  contest,  and  should  be  constantly  in  readiness  to  ex 
press  an  opinion  on  every  subject  of  a  political  character  that 
anybody  has  the  ingenuity  to  suggest.  Others  still  regard  it 
as  simply  dreadful  for  us  to  do  these  things,  and  are  greatly  dis 
turbed  every  time  an  ex-President  ventures  to  express  an  opinion 
on  any  subject.  Not  a  few  appear  to  think  we  should  simply 
exist  and  be  blind,  deaf,  and  dumb  the  remainder  of  our  days. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  a  vast  majority  of  the  plain  American 
people  are,  as  usual,  sound  and  sensible.  They  are  self- 
respecting  enough  and  have  dignity  enough  to  appreciate  the 
fact  that  their  respect  and  confidence  as  neighbors  is  something 
which  an  ex-President  may  well  covet,  and  which,  like  any 
other  man,  he  ought  to  earn.  They  will  measure  the  regard 
and  consideration  due  to  him  by  his  usefulness  and  worth  as 
a  private  citizen.  They  will  not  agree  that  the  fact  of  his 
having  been  President  gives  him  any  license  for  bad  behavior, 
nor  that  it  burdens  him  with  an  unfavorable  presumption. 
These  are  sentiments  which  we,  on  the  side  of  the  ex-Presi 
dents,  will  gladly  adopt,  and  these  conditions  we  can  well 
afford  to  accept.  In  conclusion  I  desire  to  express  the  confi 
dent  opinion,  based  upon  a  short  experience,  and  supplemented 
by  the  kindness  which  characterizes  this  occasion,  that  no  better 
place  can  be  found  as  a  retreat  for  ex-Presidents  than  Barn- 
stable  County.  They  are  sure  to  receive  here  all  the  Cape 
Cod  hospitality  and  friendly  treatment  they  deserve,  with  a 
great  many  other  things  thrown  in. 

From  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I  say  to  you,  that  while  I  do 
not  mean  in  the  least  to  detract  from  the  honor  arising  from 
the  incumbency  of  high  official  place,  nor  undervalue  the 
designation  of  ex-President,  the  pleasure  which  this  occasion 
affords  me  chiefly  consists  in  the  cordiality  with  which  you 
have  greeted  me  as  your  neighbor. 


OF  A   PERSONAL  NATURE.  549 

VII. 
Concerning  a  Renomination  for  President. 

LAKEWOOD,  N.   J.,  March  9,    1892. 
THE  HON.   EDWARD  S.   BRAGG: 

MY  DEAR  SIR:  Your  letter  of  the  5th  inst.  is  received.  I 
have  thought  until  now  that  I  might  continue  silent  on  the 
subject  which,  under  the  high  sanction  of  your  position  as  my 
"fellow-Democrat  and  fellow-citizen,"  and  in  your  relation  as 
a  true  and  trusted  friend,  you  present  to  me.  If,  in  answering 
your  questions,  I  might  only  consider  my  personal  desires 
and  my  individual  ease  and  comfort,  my  response  would  be 
promptly  made,  and  without  the  least  reservation  or  difficulty. 

But  if  you  are  right  in  supposing  that  the  subject  is  related 
to  a  duty  I  owe  to  the  country  and  to  my  party,  a  condition 
exists  which  makes  such  private  and  personal  considerations 
entirely  irrelevant.  I  cannot,  however,  refrain  from  declaring 
to  you  that  my  experience  in  the  great  office  of  President  of 
the  United  States  has  so  impressed  me  with  the  solemnity  of 
the  trust,  and  its  awful  responsibilities,  that  I  cannot  bring 
myself  to  regard  a  candidacy  for  the  place  as  something  to  be 
won  by  personal  strife  and  active  self-assertion. 

I  have  also  an  idea  that  the  Presidency  is  pre-eminently  the 
people's  office,  and  I  have  been  sincere  in  my  constant  advo 
cacy  of  the  effective  participation  in  political  affairs  on  the 
part  of  all  our  citizens.  Consequently,  I  believe  the  people 
should  be  heard  in  the  choice  of  their  party  candidates,  and  that 
they  themselves  should  make  nominations  as  directly  as  is  consis 
tent  with  open,  fair,  and  full  party  organizations  and  methods. 

I  speak  of  these  things  solely  for  the  purpose  of  advising 
you  that  my  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  Presidential  office, 
and  my  conviction  that  the  voters  of  our  party  should  be  free 
in  the  selection  of  their  candidates,  preclude  the  possibility  of 
my  leading  and  pushing  a  self-seeking  canvass  for  the  Presi 
dential  nomination,  even  if  I  had  a  desire  to  be  again  a 
candidate. 


55°  LETTERS  AND  SPEECHES. 

Believing  that  the  complete  supremacy  of  Democratic  prin 
ciples  means  increased  national  prosperity  and  the  increased 
happiness  of  our  people,  I  am  earnestly  anxious  for  the  success 
of  the  party.  I  am  confident  success  is  still  within  our  reach, 
but  I  believe  this  is  a  time  for  Democratic  thoughtfulness  and 
deliberation,  not  only  as  to  candidates,  but  concerning  party 
action  upon  questions  of  immense  interest  to  the  patriotic  and 
intelligent  voters  of  the  land,  who  watch  for  an  assurance  of 
safety  as  the  price  of  their  confidence  and  support. 
Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


VIII. 

To  fames  H.  Bible,  Chattanooga^    Tenn. 

LAKEWOOD,   N.   J.,   April  8,    1892. 
MY  DEAR  SIR: 

1  desire  to  thank  you  for  the  report  of  the  meeting  at  Chat 
tanooga,  which  you  so  kindly  sent  me,  and  for  the  friendly 
words  you  spoke  of  me  on  that  occasion. 

1  am  exceedingly  anxious  to  have  our  party  do  exactly  the 
right  thing  at  the  Chicago  Convention,  and  I  hope  that  the 
delegates  will  be  guarded  by  judgment  and  actuated  by  true 
Democratic  spirit  and  the  single  desire  to  succeed  on  principle. 

I  should  not  be  frank  if  I  did  not  say  to  you  that  I  often 
fear  I  do  not  deserve  all  the  kind  things  such  friends  as  you 
say  of  me,  and  I  have  frequent  misgivings  as  to  the  wisdom  of 
again  putting  me  in  nomination. 

I,  therefore,  am  anxious  that  sentiment  and  too  unmeasured 
personal  devotion   should  be  checked  when   the   delegates  to 
the  convention  reach  the  period  of  deliberation.      In  any  event 
there  will  be  no  disappointment  for  me  in  the  result. 
Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


INDEX. 


ACADEMIES.     See  EDUCATION. 

Actors'  Fund  of  America,  speech  be 
fore,  Jan.  3,  1890,  193-197 

Actors'  Home,  196 

Adams,  John  P. ,  letters  to,  Oct.  30, 
1889,  290  ;  Sept.  12,  1890,  480 

Adirondack  Park,  speech  in  regard  to, 
New  York,  Jan.  24,  1891,  233-237 

Agricultural  Department.  See  BU 
REAU  OF  AGRICULTURE. 

Agricultural  fairs,   134,   135,   137,  141 

Agricultural    implements,   81 

Agriculture,  census  returns,  80 ;  im 
portance  of,  231,  513-515.  See  also 
FARMERS. 

Agriculture,  Commissioner  of,  distribu 
tion  of  seeds  by,  451. 

Alabama,  office  of  District  Attorney  of 
Southern  District  of,  465 

Albany,  N.  Y.,  needed  reforms  at  the 
Capitol,  234,  235  ;  speeches  at,  6-8, 
31,32,  205,206,  218-220,  298,  299 

Aliens,  anomalous  position  of  certain 
domiciled,  525 

Allentown,  Pa.,  veto  of  public-building 
bill,  520 

American  artists,  unjust  discrimination 
in  favor  of,  341,  342 

"  American,"  pride  in  the  name,  351 

American    character,    223,    224,    249- 

255 

American  chivalry,  397 

American  citizens,  rights  and  protec 
tion  of,  16,  215-218.  See  also  CITI 
ZENS. 

American  citizens  imprisoned  abroad, 
address  on,  215-218 

American  citizenship,  118  ;  true,  228, 
35°.  35  x  I  Washington's  share  in  the 
creation  of,  351.  See  also  CITIZEN 
SHIP. 


American  commerce,  means  of  res 
toration  of,  94 

American  Copyright  League,  letter  to, 
Dec.  6,  1889.  342.  343 

American  eagle,  climatic  conditions 
for,  1 66 

American  energy  and  enterprise,  79 

American  families,  the  piano  and  or 
gan  in,  161,  162 

American  Fishery  Union,  letter  to, 
April  7,  1887,498-500 

American  freedom,  price  of ,  349 

American  homes,  251,  253,  269 

American  industries,  speech  on,  158- 
162 

American  ingenuity,  79,  159 

American  institutions,  16,  161,  169, 
208,  209,  239,  240,  263,  278,  337, 
352,  356,  358,  482,  484 

Americanism,  239-241,  247,  251,  252, 
254,  255,  262,  269,  304,  320,  482, 

544 

American  life,  important  factors  in,  251 

American  manufacturers,  unjust  bene 
fits  of  protection  to,  78 

American  patriotism.  See  PATRIOTISM. 

American  people,  slowness  to  inves 
tigate  public  questions,  101 

American  pianoforte,  history  of 
the,  160,  161 

American  sentiment,  350,  354-360,  362 

American  skill,  79,  159 

American  traits,  130,  131 

Anderson,  E.  Ellery,  374 

Andrew,  John  F.,  320 

Ann  Arbor,  Mich.,  address  at,  352-362. 
See  SPEECHES. 

Appointment  to  office,  as  reward  for 
party  services,  4,  38,  39,  43.  45,  47, 
48,  53,  60,  224,  246,  285,  294,  309, 
488  ;  difficulties  in  regard  to,  541 


551 


552 


INDEX. 


Appropriation  bills,  selfish  measures 
introduced  into,  97 

Arbitration  of  labor  disputes,  332-336. 
See  also  LABOR. 

Army  of  the  Cumberland,  223 

Art,  revision  of  the  tariff  laws  in  rela 
tion  to  works  of,  341,  342 

Arthur,  Chester  A.,  tribute  to,  491 

Assembly  districts,  readjustment  of,  309 

Assessments  for  partisan  purposes,   4 

Assessors,  duties  of  local,  65 

Atlanta,  Ga.,  letter  to  the  Cleveland 
Club  at,  Feb.  29,  1892,  294,  295 

Attorney  -  General.  See  UNITED 
STATES  ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 

Authors.  See  INTERNATIONAL' COPY 
RIGHT. 

BAKERS,  census  returns,  80 

Ballot-box,  purity  of,  151-154,  173, 
344.  See  also  BALLOT  REFORM. 

Ballot  reform,  necessity  of,  151-155, 
268,  344  ;  how  the  suffrage  is  de 
bauched,  344 

Banks,  proposition  to  deposit  Trea 
sury  surplus  in,  76 

Barnstable  County,  543-546,  548 

Bartholdi     statue,    address   accepting-, 

Oct.   28,    1886,   222 

Bean  Hill,  238 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward,  tribute  to, 
492,  493 

Benevolent  institutions.  See  CHARIT 
ABLE  INSTITUTIONS  ;  CHARITIES. 

Benton,  M.  E.,  51 

Berne,  international  copyright  con 
ference  at,  341 

Bible,  James  PL,  letter  to,  April  8, 
1892,  550 

Billion  Dollar  Congress,  pension  ex 
travagance  in,  276 

Bissell,  Dr.,  538 

Bissell,  Herbert  P.,  285,  540 

Black,  Chauncey  F.,  285,  287 

Blacksmiths,  census  returns,  80 

Boston,  commerce  of,  149  ;  speeches 
at,  148-155,  316-321 

Boston  Tea  Party,  149 

Boyhood,  537~539 

Bragg,  Edward  S. ,  letter  to,  March  9, 
1882,  549.  550 

Bribery,  4,  5,  10,  36,  151,  152,  253, 
268,  277,  321 


Bridgeport,   Conn.,  speech  at,  302,  303 
Bridges,  improper   legislation  regard 
ing:,  332 

British  gold, demagogic  cry  of.  261 ,  325 
Brooklyn,     headquarters     of      Kings 
County    Democracy,  480  ;  speeches 
in,  237-241,  307-312 
Brown,  Edgar  A.,  100 
Buffalo,  inaugural  message   as  mayor 
of,  28-31  ;  office  of  City  Auditor  in, 
29,   30 ;     Semi-centennial    German 
Young  Men's  Association,  127-132; 
Sangerfest,   128,220;    Music  Hall, 
128  ;  German   population   of,    128- 
132;      Fitch     Institute,     178-180; 
message   to  Common  Council,  June 
5,  1882,   180,   182  ;     Young   Men's 
Christian      Association,      181-183  ; 
letter     to     Cleveland      Democracy, 
Sept.    30,    1885,  284,  285  ;    Semi 
centennial       of,       107-109,       375, 
541  ;  veto  of  amendments  to  charter 
of,  April  9,  1883,  447-449  ;  proposed 
re-organization   of    fire   department 
of,  447-449  J  veto  of   appropriation 
for     celebrating    Decoration     Day, 
May  8,  1882,433-435;  speeches  at, 
i,    2,    107-109,    127-132,    178-183, 
203-205,    215-218,    220,  221,    274- 
278,  296,  297,  375-377,  534,  539~542 
Builders,    speech  at   banquet  of  New 
York  National  Association,  Feb.  12, 
1891,  169-173 

Building  contracts,  171,  172 
Building  trade,  antiquity  and  impor 
tance  of,  170 
Bunker  Hill,  317 

Bureau  of  Agriculture,  classification  of 
employees   in,    56  ;    its  work,   451, 
513-515 
Bureau  of   Labor,    establishment     of, 

335,  336 

Burnett,  John  D.,  465 
Burnett,  William  E.,  letter  to,  Feb.  3, 

1891,  480,  481 

Burritt,  Loren,  veto  of  pension  bill  for, 

396 
Business    men,     duties    to     share     in 

government,  313 
Business  Men's  Democratic  Association 

of  New  York,  speech  before,  Jan.  8, 

1892,  278-283  ;  Oct.  27,  1891,  312- 
316 


INDEX. 


553 


Business  methods  in  government.  See 
GOVERNMENT,  RIGHT  PRINCIPLES 
OK. 

Butchers,  census  returns,  So 

Butler,  Benoni,  538 

Butter.    See  OLEOMARGARINE. 

Buzzard's  Bay,  545 

CALDWELI,  N.  J.,  3°° 

California  Indians.    See  INDIANS. 

"  Campaign  of  Education,"  the,  256-- 
263 

Canada,  commerce  wi  h,  499-511; 
retaliation  on,  499-511  ;  canals  of, 
509.  510 

Canals,  legislation  regarding,  5  I  pres 
ervation  of,  65  ;  State  policy  with  re 
gard  to,  in  ;  Canadian,  509,  510 

Cand'dates  for  office,  qualifications 
for,  315 

Canton,  O.,  letters  to  Young  Men's 
Democratic  Club  at,  Nov.  27,  1890, 
105-106;  Nov.  22,  1889,  290;  Nov. 
25,  1890,  293-294 

Cape  Cod,  543,  545,  546.  548 

Cape  Cod  Canal,  545 

Capital,  relations  between  labor  and,  5, 
124,  333,  336,  337  ;  regard  for  in 
terests  of,  36 ;  effect  of  Federal 
taxation  on,  69  ;  unjust  exercise  of 
power  by,  94  ;  effect  of  tariff  reform 
on,  327  ;  alleged  discrimination  in 
favor  of,  333 

Cardinal  Gibbons  Reception  Commit 
tee,  letter  to,  Jan.  26,  1887,  183,  184 

Carlisle,  John  G.,  63 

Carlisle  Indian  school,  422 

Carpenters,  census  returns,  80 

Carpenters'  Hall.  Philadelphia,  122 

Cass,  Lewis,  523 

Catholic  Club  of  Philadelphia,  letter  to, 
Jan.  26,  1887,  183,  184 

Caucus,  protection  of,  3 

Cemeteries,  improper  legislation  re 
garding,  332 

Census,  returns  of  industrial  pursuits, 
80  ;  Republican  neglect  of  Constitu 
tional  provisions  for,  309,  310 
Centennial    and    anniversary   celebra 
tions,  speeches,    etc.,    at,    107-132. 
See   also   SPEECHES. 
Central  America,  needs  of,  523 
4  Characteristic  messages,"  462-479 


"Character  of  Andrew  Jackson,"  484- 
486 

"Character  of  reporters,"  345,  346 

Charitable  institutions,  mismanage 
ment  of,  39,  200  ;  care  of,  113 

Charity,  123,  195,  196.  See  also  RE 
LIGIOUS  AND  CHARITABLE  ORGAN 
IZATIONS  ;  STATE  CHARITY  AID 
ASSOCIATION. 

Chautauqua  County,  veto  of  bill  for 
purchase  of  land  by,  Feb.  12,  1883, 

437,  438 

"  Cheap  and  nasty,"  252-254 

"Cheap  merchandise,  cheap  men, 
cheap  country,"  252-254 

Chicago  platform  of  1884,  10 

Children,  protection  of ,  180,181 

Christmas  Day,  348 

Church  and  state,  union  of,  183.184 

Churches,  113 

Cities,  admixture  of  luxury  and 
squalor  in,  91 

Citizens,  duties  of,  32,  33,  35,  135, 
136,  138-140,  146,  148,  150- 
152,  155,  173,  174,  182-184,  189, 
190,  197,  209,  216,  218,  219,  226- 
229,  232,  233,  261,  263,  301,  303, 
304/307,  313,  3T5,  3i6,  337.  34:, 
35L  361,  362.  383,  549;  rights  of, 
215-218  ;  recruiting  the  ranks  of, 
352.  See  also  AMERICAN  CITIZENS; 
AMERICAN  CITIZENSHIP  ;  CITIZEN 
SHIP. 

Citizenship,    effect    of     teachings    of 

Christianity  on,    186  ;    equality   of 

American,    337  :    renunciation     of, 

524 

City  Auditor  of  Buffalo,  office  of,  29, 

3° 

Civil  Service  Commission,  reports  of, 
48,  49,  57-61  ;  advice  to,  56,  57 

Civil  Service  reform,  4,  12,  13,  17,  36, 
37,  154,  486,  487,  541  :  letters, 
messages,  etc.,  relating  to,  38-61  ; 
difficulties  attending  its  introduction, 
44  ;  co-operation  of  the  Cabinet  in 
the  matter  of,  45  ;  belief  in,  45  ; 
first  annual  message  to  Congress 
on,  46-48  ;  benefit  of,  48,  49, 
53,  54;  second  annual  message, 
Dec.  6,  1886,  53,  54  ;  promotion 
of  officers  without  competitive  ex 
amination,  54,  55  ;  growth  and 


554 


INDEX. 


progress  of,  57-61  ;  change  of  rules 
and  regulations  of,  59  ;  difficulties  in 
the  path  of,  60  ;  civil-service  rules, 
subdivision  C.  of  General  Rule  3, 
54  ;  Civil  Service  Reform  Act,  gist 
of,  55  I  evasions  of,  55  ;  classifica 
tion  of  employees  under,  55,  56 

Civil  War,  the,  351,  376,  377  ; 
Germans  in,  130  ;  Sumner's  efforts 
to  obliterate  reminder  of,  318 

Civil  War  pensions.     See  PENSIONS. 

Civis  Romanus  Sum,  218 

Claims  against  government,  popular 
opinion  in  regard  to,  96 

Classes,  formation  of  two  widely  op 
posite,  91 

Cleveland,  Rev.  William  N. ,  letter  to, 
Nov.  7,  1882,  533,  534 

Cleveland  Club,  Atlanta,  Ga.,  letter  to, 
Feb  29,  1892,  294,  295 

Cleveland  Democracy  of  Buffalo,  274- 
278,  284,  285. 

Cleveland  family,  237 

Clinton,  N.  Y.,  centennial  of,  116-118, 

537-539- 

Codman,  Chas.  R.,  320 

Coinage   of  silver.     See  SILVER. 

Colleges.     See  EDUCATION: 

Collins,  Hon.  P.  A.,  13,  15 

Colored  people.     See  NEGRO. 

Columbus,  O.,  letter  to  political 
rally  in,  Sept.  24  ,  1884,  283,  284  ; 
speech  at  Thurman  banquet,  Nov. 
13,  1890,  249-255 

Combination,  of  corporations,  5  ;  as 
indication  of  competition,  83 

Combinations,  creatures  of  recent 
birth,  91  ;  improper,  93.  See  also 
TRUSTS. 

Commerce,  to  be  fostered,  12  ;  neces 
sity  of  freedom  of,  65,  66;  effect  of 
unnecessary  taxation  on,  73,  314; 
importance  of,  109,  in,  156;  rela 
tion  to  government,  147,156,  174- 
177  ;  reciprocity  in,  162,  163. 

Commercial  and  business  associations, 
letters  and  addresses  to,  144-177. 
See  also  LETTERS  ;  SPEECHES. 

Commission  of  Labor,    proposed,  334 

Commissioner  of  Labor,  appointment 
^  of,  335 

Communism,  views  on,  94 

Competition,  healthy,  83,  134 


Congressional  districts,  Democratic 
fairness  in  readjustment  of,  311 

Conspiracies.     See  TRUSTS. 

Constitutional  amendments,  5 

Constitutional  Convention,  122 

Constitutional  limitations,  4 

Consumers,  burdens  of  unnecessary 
taxation  on,  92 

Continental  Congress,  101 

Contracts,  popular  ideas  in  regard  to 
government,  96 

Cooper  Union,  speeches  at,  303-307, 
494-496 

Copyright.  See  INTERNATIONAL 
COPYRIGHT. 

Corn,  shipments  of,  from  New  Or 
leans,  no 

Cornell,  Governor,  31 

Cornell  Alumni  Society,  address  be 
fore,  Dec.  21,  1889,  229-233 

Cornell  University,  230-233 

Corporate  funds,  misuse  of,  330 

Corporations,  rights,  privileges,  and 
liabilities  of,  4,  5  ;  increasing  power 
of,  92  ;  unjust  grants  to,  97  ;  raison 
d'etre,  329  ;  publicity  of,  329-331  ; 
limitation  of  privileges  of,  487 

Correctional  institutions,  mismanage 
ment  of,  39 

Corruption,  5,  6,12,  302,  304,  305,  321, 
,  344 

Cox,  S.  S.,  tribute  to,  494-496 

Crees.     See  INDIANS. 

Critic,  The,  tribute  to  Oliver  Wendell 
Holmes  in,  346,  347 

Crops,  movement  of,  21 

Cruelty  in  charitable  institutions,  200 

Currency,  necessity  of  a  sound,  314, 
487  ;  dangers  to,  319  ;  contraction 
of,  364,  365 

Curtis,  George  William,  41 

Custom  Cutters'  National  Convention, 
letter  to.  Jan.  2O,  1891,  103 

Custom  Foremen  Tailors'  Association, 
103 

Customs  duties,  revenue  from,  18,  19  ; 
indirect  taxation  through,  67-69  ; 
recommendation  of  reduction  of,  84  ; 
who  pays,  325  ;  payment  of,  in  sil 
ver,  366,  368.  See  also  FEDERAL 
TAXATION  ;  REVENUE  ;  TARIFF. 

Customs  service,  appointments  to,  and 
vacancies  in,  58 


INDEX. 


555 


DAKOTA  BIBLE,  exclusion  of,  among 
Indians,  416 

Deceit,  condemnation  of,  536,  537 

Declaration  of  Independence,   291-293 

Decoration  Day,  veto  of  appropriation 
for  celebrating  at  Buffalo,  433~435 

De  Krafft,  Elizabeth  S.,  veto  of  pen 
sion  bill  for,  279,  280 

Democracy,  true,  8,  14,  101,  102,  245- 
249,  251,  263-275,  288,  303,  322, 
485,  487-489  ;  historical  associa 
tions,  272  ;  full  meaning  of,  294  ; 
condition,  responsibilities,  and  duty 
of,  303  ;  secret  of  safety  of,  312  ; 
steadfastness  in  the  people's  cause, 
312,  328  ;  essence  of  its  faith,  343  ; 
root  of  national  prosperity,  550 

Democracy  of  Kings  County,  N.  Y., 
letter  to,  Oct.  30,  1889,288-290 

"  Democrat,  I  am  a."  See  "  I  AM  A 
DEMOCRAT." 

Democratic  clubs,  importance  of,  285- 
288  ;  letter  to  National  Association 
of,  Sept.  14,  1888,  285,  286  ;  letter 
to  New  York  Convention  of,  Oct. 

21,   1889,   287,   288 

Democratic  government,  34,  35 
Democratic  Party,  honesty  of,  2  ;  plat 
form  of  1884,  10  ;  platform  of  1888, 
17  ;  principles  in  regard  to  trusts 
and  combinations,  24  ;  position  on 
revision  of  revenue  laws,  63  ;  tariff 
reform  principal  issue  before,  104  ; 
principles  of,  243,  244,  256,  279,  297, 
304,  305,  315  ;  freedom  of  opinion 
in,  245  ;  position  with  regard  to  the 
people,  261,  262  ;  necessities  of, 
266  ;  duties  of,  273  ;  circumstances 
attending  birth  of,  273  ;  position  in 
regard  to  taxation,  280,  301  ;  position 
on  tariff  reform,  281,  327,  328  ;  se 
cret  of  success  of,  290  ;  position  in 
regard  to  labor,  301  ;  pledged  to 
reform,  308  ;  sincerity  of,  323,  324 

Democratic  Societies  of  Pennsylvania, 
letter  to,  Oct.  11,  1889,  286,  287 

Democratic  State  Convention,  meeting 
at  Syracuse,  3 

Deparlmental  service,  appointments 
to,  57-59  ;  vacancies  in,  58 

Department  of  Justice,  classification 
of  employees  in,  56  ;  reforms  in, 
SID,  517 


Department  of  State,  classification  of 
employees  in,  56  ;  transactions  of, 

87 
Dependent  pension  bill,  veto  of,  384- 

39° 

Depew,  Chauncey  M.,  163-165 

Desert  land  laws,  repeal  of,  recom 
mended,  427 

Desert  lands,  protection  of,  431, 
432 

Direct-tax  bill,  veto  of,  March  2,  1889, 
451-461 

Domestic  industries,  18,  26 

Domestic  manufactures,  consumers 
taxed  for,  78  ;  unnecessary  fostering 
of,  79  ;  enhancement  of  cost  to  con 
sumers  of,  by  high  tariff,  81-83  ; 
healthy  competition  in,  83  ;  element 
of  national  greatness,  84  ;  reduc 
tion  of  duties  on  raw  material,  85  ; 
stifling  of  production,  89  ;  prosper 
ity  of,  91  ;  secret  of  their  success, 
91  ;  reformation  of  tariff  as  regards, 

95 

Domestic  servants,  census  returns,  80 

Domicile,  definition  of  rights  spring 
ing  from,  525 

Dougherty,  Mary  Ann,  veto  of  pen 
sion  bill  for,  401-403 

Douglas,  H.  K.,  101 

Downing,   Henry  F.,  344 

Dramatic  profession.  See  ACTORS' 
FUND. 

Dressmakers,  census  returns,  80 

Duskin,  George  M.,  465,  466 

EATON,  DORMAN  B.,  letter  accepting 
resignation  of,  43-46 

Economic  and  social  questions,  mes 
sages  and  speeches,  etc.,  on,  329- 
347.  See  also  MESSAGES;  SPEECHES. 

Economy,  private,  35,  251-253,  278 

Economy,  public,  35,  88,  251-25.3, 
267,  269,  278,  300,  314,  319,  487 

Edison,  Thomas  A.,  15° 

Education,  system  in  New  York  State, 
113;  relation  to  politics,  114; 
public  estimate  of,  123,  189,  357  ; 
care  to  be  exercised  in,  189-192  ; 
addresses  on,  215-241  ;  national 
progress  in,  218  ;  value  of,  239  ;  of 
colored  people,  344,  345  ;  necessity 
of  combining  patriotism  with,  354 


INDEX. 


Educational    and    patriotic  questions, 

addresses  on,  215-241 
Election  frauds,  3.    See  also  BALLOT 

Box  ;  BRIBERY  ;  CORRUPTION. 
Elections,  Federal  interference  in,  4  ; 

State    interference    in,  4.     See  also 

BALLOT-BOX  REFORM. 
Elevated  Railroad  Commissioners,  442, 

443 
Elevated  Railroad  Five-cent  Fare  Bill, 

veto  of,  March  2,  1883,  438-446 
Ellicott,  Joseph,  541 
Elliot,  Charles  W.,  320 
Elmira  State  Fair,  137-139 
Employers  and  employed,  relations  of, 

II,    12 

Enforcement  of  laws,  42 
Engine-houses,     improper    legislation 

regarding,  332 
England,  reciprocity  with,   162,   163  ; 

a   Republican   bugbear,    326  ;  posi 
tion  in  regard  to  silver  coinage,  369 
English  syndicates,  160 
Entangling  alliances,  340,  520 
Equality,  90 
Erie  canal,  65 
Erie   County  Bar  Association,   tribute 

to  Oscar  Folsom  before,  203-205 
Essex  County,  N.  J.,  300 
"Estimates    of    public     men,"    480- 

497 
"  Eternal  vigilance  the  price  of  liberty," 

292 
Europe,  competition  with  pauper  labor 

of,  79,  326  ;  America's  challenge  to, 

159,  160 
Evacuation  Day  Celebration,  Nov.  26, 

1883,  109-111 
Evangelical  Alliance,  address  to,  Dec. 

9,  1887,  185,  186 
Everett,  Dr.  Wm.,  320 
Executive  order  on  death  of  General 

Hancock,  Feb.  9,  1886,  491 
Expatriation,  right  of,  524,  525 
Expediency,   weakness  of  doctrine  of, 

257 
Ex-Presidents,  method  of  disposal  of, 

158  ;  rights  of,   and   popular  ideas 

concerning,  547,  548 
Extortion  from  public  officers,  4 
Extravagance,  public,   21,  35,   36,  68, 

77,  95,  267,  272   276-278,  288,  304, 

325 


FARMERS,  interest  in  taxation,  20; 
effect  of  protective  tariff  on,  20,  69- 
72,  8 1  ;  movement  of  crops,  21  ; 
census  returns,  80  ;  decrease  of  in 
terest  in  life  of,  91  ;  best  policy  for, 
105  ;  position  with  regard  to  New 
York  canals,  in;  industries  fostered 
by  State,  134-138  ;  an  independent 
class,  137,  138  ;  letter  to  Grange  Pic 
nic  at  Williams  Grove,  Pa.,  Aug.  27, 
1888,  140,  141  ;  duty  of  Democratic 
party  to,  267  ;  protection  for,  477  ; 
government  encouragment  of,  514, 
515. 

Farmers'  Alliance,  letter  to  Steuben- 
ville  Lodge,  March  24,  1890,  142, 
143 

Farmers'  organizations,  addresses  and 
letters  to,  133-143 

Farming,  personal  experience  in,  134  ; 
dignity  of,  134  ;  importance  of,  134- 

J39>  141 

Farquhar,  John  M.,  433 

Favored-nation  clauses  of  treaties,  340 

Favoritism    in    advancement    of    em- 
.  ployees,  59 

Federal  government,  foundation  of, 
35  ;  popular  opinion  of,  95,  96  ; 
protection  of  inter-state  commerce 
by,  in  labor  disputes,  336  ;  inter 
ference  of,  in  questions  between 
labor  and  capital,  336,  337 

Federal  legislation  in  regard  to  labor 
questions,  333,  334 

Federal  offices,  distribution  of,  51 

Federal  patronage,  34 

Federal  power,  constitutional  limita 
tions  of,  98,  487 

Federal  system,  125-127 

Federal  taxation,  wrongs  of  the  sys 
tem,  68,  69  ;  war  rates  in  time  of 
peace,  70  ;  readjustment  of.  70  ; 
veto  of  the  direct-tax  bill,  451- 
461  ;  payment  by  States  in  gross, 
453,  454!  non-payment  by  rebellious 
States,  457,  458.  See  also  CUSTOMS 
DUTIES  ;  REVENUE  ;  TARIFF  ; 
TAXATION 

Federal  union,  Washington's  prin 
ciples  of,  351,  353 

Fellowcraft  Club,  New  York,  speech 
before,  May  14,  1889,  225-229 

Filial  affection,  359 


INDEX. 


557 


Financial  policy,  16,  36,  312 

Fire  Department  of  Buffalo,  proposed 

reorganization  of,  447-449 
Fishery  disputes,  498-511 

Fitch, ,  178-180 

Fitch    Institute,    Buffalo,    speech    at, 

May  10,  1882,  178-180 
Flack,  James  A.,  88 
Floaters,  344 

Florida,  Jackson's  occupation  of,  280 
Flower,  Roswell  P.,  307.  3*6 
Folsom,  Oscar,  memorial   tribute   to, 

203-205 

Food  production,  138 
Food  supply,  frauds  in,  477,  478 
Force  Bill,  defeat  of,  309 
Forefathers'  Day,  236-241 
Foreign  alliances,  520 
Foreign  markets,  competition  in,  23, 

69,  70,  85,  93,  142,  143  ;   exclusion 

from,  89 ;    forcing  our  goods   into, 

1 60  ;    cultivation  of,   162  ;   effect  of 

tariff  reform  on,  327 
Foreign   policy,    35,    36  ;    of  a  weak 

nation,  512 

Forest  Commission,  236 
Forests,  preservation  of,  65,  233-237, 

425 

Fosnot,  E.  W.,  406 
Fourth  of  July  speeches,  166 
France,    reciprocity   with,    162,    163  ; 
presentation   of    Bartholdi's   statue, 
222 ;    position   in    regard   to   silver 
coinage,  369 
Francis,  David  R.,  398 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  120,  122 
Frauds.     See  BALLOT  Box  ;  BALLOT 
REFORM  ;  BRIBERY  ;  CORRUPTION  ; 
ELECTION. 

Fraudulent  and  corrupt  practices,  5,  6 
Frazier,  John  W.,  398 
Freedmen.     See  NEGROES. 
Freedom,  human  yearnings  for,  122, 

126 

Free  library  movement,  188-193 
Free   trade,    Democratic    position    in 
regard  to,  24  ;  relation  to  question 
of  reduction  of  revenue,  67  ;  action 
toward  tariff  reform    preferable    to 
theori/ing    about,  86 ;     Republican 
sneers  about,  325.    See  also  TARIFF. 
Friendly  Sons  of  St.  Patrick,  225 
Frontier  settlers,  safety  of,  411 


Frugality    in  home  and   government, 

251-253,   278 
Furey,  William  A.,  letter  to,    Feb.    2, 

1888,  486,  487 

GARFIELD,  JAMES  A.,  253;  unveiling  of 
statue  at  Washington,  May  12,  1887, 
222-224 

Garland,  A.  H.,   50 

Garrison,  W7illiam  Lloyd,   320 

General  Railroad  Act,  444 

German  character,  220,  221 

German  citizens,  128-132,  220,  221 

German  literature.  128,  129 

Germany,  position  in  regard  to  silver 
coinage,  369 

German  Young  Men's  Association, 
semi-centennial  of,  127-132 

Gettysburg,  letter  to  reunion  of  Union 
and  ex-Confederate  soldiers  at,  June 
24,  1887,  397,  398 

Ghoulish  glee,  115 

Gibbons,  Cardinal,  183  ;  letter  to  Car 
dinal  Gibbons  Reception  Com 
mittee,  Jan.  26,  1887,  183,  184 

Gilroy,  Thomas  F.,  293 

Gloucester,  Mass.,  letter  to  American 
Fishery  Union  at,  April  7,  1887, 
498-500 

Gold,  displaced  by  silver,  363,  364, 
366,  368,  373  ;  hoarding  of,  366- 
368  ;  increase  in  exportation  of, 

Government,  right  principles  of,  13, 
39.  63-67,  86,  186,  216  ;  proper 
support  of,  92 

Government  bonds,  redemption  of,  be 
fore  maturity,  73-7°  I  premiums  on, 
74-76 

Government  by  the  people.  See  POP 
ULAR  GOVERNMENT. 

Government  patronage.  See  PATRON 
AGE. 

Governor,  letter  accepting  nomination 
for,  3-6  ;  inaugural  speech  as,  31, 

32 

Governorship,  duties  and  responsi 
bilities  of,  3,  32,  133,  533,  534 

Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  speech 
at  banquet  in  Buffalo,  375~377  \  mis 
sion  of,  376,  377  ;  comments  on 
invitation  to  visit  national  encamp 
ment  of,  at  St.  Louis,  398-401  ; 


558  INDEX. 

letter    to   Post  176,  Department   of    Home  Rule,  4,  98,  311,  312,  497 
Pennsylvania,  Oct.  24,     1889,  406,    Homes,    the  strength  of   the  nation, 

407  ;    the   good   and    bad   in,   406,        339 

407-  Homes  of  polygamy,  338-340 
Grangers,    letter   to   Picnic,    Pennsyl-    Homestead  law,  426  ;    amendment  of, 

vania,  Aug.  27,  iS88,  140,  141  427 
Grant,  General    U.   S.,   471,  472  ;  tri-    Homestead  rights,  alienation  of,  427 

bute  to,  489  Honesty,  487 

Graves,  E.  O.,  letter  to,  April  2,  1891,  Honor  lies  in  honest  toil,  n 

482,  483  Hospitals,  ill-treatment  in,  200 

Great   Britain,    fishery  disputes  with,  House  of   Representatives,  action  on 

498-511  revenue  reform,  25 

Great  Lakes,  navigation  of,  509,  510  Hudson  River,  235 

Greystone  Club,  letter  to,  Feb.,  1890,  Huntoon,  G.  H.,  103 

487,  488 

"  I  AM  A  DEMOCRAT,"  i,  8,  41,  256 

HAGERSTOWN,  Mn. ,  letter  to  Tariff  Immigration,    views    on,   u,   17,   23, 

Reform  Club,  April  29,  1890,   101,  36,    216,    221,  239,  240  ;    German,' 

102  129  ;    restriction  of  Mormon,  340  ; 

Hancock,    Gen.    W.     S.,    tribute    to,  message  to  N.  Y.  Senate  on,  May  4, 

Feb.  9,  1886,  491  1883,  462-464 

Hansen,  Dethlef  C.,  letter  to,   March  Immigration,  Bureau  of,  65 

26,1891,481,482  Immigration    commissioner,    message 

Harvard  College,  speech  at  two  hun-  to    N.  Y.    senate  concerning,    May 

dred  and  fiftieth  anniversary,  Nov.  4,  1884,  462-464 

9,  1886,  114-116  Impeachment,  reviewal  of  Presidential 

Hayward,  George,  541  acts  by,  470 

Heads  of  Departments,  orders  to,  49,  Imports,  principle  of  taxes  upon,  70 

50  Inaugural     messages    and     speeches, 

Health,  public,  235  28-37 

Hendricks,   Thomas   A.,    tribute    to,  Independence,  American,  35 

49°  Independence  Hall,  Philadelphia.  122 

Hentz,  Henry,  146  Indiana  Tariff  Reform  League,  letters 

Herbst,  John,  404  to,  Feb.  15,  1890,  100,  101  ;    March 

Herbst,  Theresa,  veto  of  pension  bill  1891,  104,  105 

for,  404,  405  Indian  Agencies,  inadequacy  of,   412, 

Herwig,  F.  A.,   102  413 

Hibernian   Society,  speech  before,  at  Indian     agents,    difference    in.    409, 

Philadelphia,   Sept.    17,    1887,  224,  410;  inquiry  into  methods  of,  411  ; 

compensation  of,  413 

Higginson,  T.  W.,  320  Indianapolis    Monument    Committee, 

Highways,    improper    legislation    re-  letter  to,  June  1 8,  1890,  490 

garding,  332  Indian  Bureau,  difficulties  in  manage - 

Hill,  J.  A.,  142  mentof,  410;  expense  of,  411;  rules 

Historical    and  scientific  societies    of  a>  to  education,  416-419 

Philadelphia,  speech  before,  121  Indian   commissioners,     recommenda- 

Hoar,  Sherman,  99,  320  tion  of,  410,  411,  414 

Holidays,  national,  348,  349  Indian     frontier,     disappearance     of, 

Holman,  John  A.,  letter  to,  June  18,  412 

1890,  490  Indian  lands,  allotted  in  severally,  411 

Holmes,   Oliver   Wendell,    tribute   to,  Indian  policy,  17,  36 

Aug.  23,  1884,  346,  347  Indian    problem,    the,    96,    97,    408- 

Home  life,  316  423 


INDEX. 


559 


Indian     reservations,     inequality    of, 
409,    411;    purchase  of,  by    U. 
government,  410  ;  intrusions  upon, 
411  ;  railroads  across,  415  ;   legisla 
tion  regarding,  415 
Indians,    wrongs  of,    408  ;    atrocities 
of,    408  ;  rights   of,    408  ;    ultimate 
object  of  treatment  of,  408  ;  assimi 
lation   of,   408  ;     population,    408  ; 
reservations    for,    408  ;    differences 
in  natural  traits,  409  I  civilization  of, 
409,  410,  417,    419,  420  ;  education 
among,  409,410,  4"  .4*4.  416-422; 
savagery  among,    409 ;   tribal   rela 
tions,    409  ;    love   of    home,    409  ; 
ownership  of  lands  in  severally  by, 
409  ;     consideration    for,    407,    in 
equality   of  reservations,  409  ;   reli 
gious  teaching  among,  410  ;  removal 
of,  411  ;  question  of  citizenship  of, 
411  ;    supply  of   agricultural  imple 
ments    to,    411  ;    government   sup 
port  for,  411,  412,  413;    transition 
from  tribal  organizations  to  citizen 
ship,  412-415  ;  wards  of  the  nation, 
4I3»    41?  J    allotment    of    land    in 
severally,  414,  415,  420  ;  character, 
415  ;    exclusion    of    Dakota    Bible 
among,    416  ;     capacity    of,    420 ; 
opening  of   Sioux  lands,  421  ;  Tur 
tle   Mountain   Indians.  421  ;  Crees, 
421  ;  reservations  in  California,  421  ; 
Apache  prisoners,  421,  422  ;  agen 
cies,  see  INDIAN  AGENCIES;  INDIAN 
AGENTS. 

Indian  schools,  text-books  in,  415-419  ; 
use  of  English  language  in,  416- 
419 

Indian  Territory,  412 

Individual  rights,  12 

Innocuous  desuetude,  472 

Insane,  ill  treatment  of,  200 

Interior  Department,  classification  of 
employees  in,  56 

Internal  revenue  law,  proposed  reform, 
in  trial  of  offenses  under,  516,  517 

Internal  revenue  reform,  Republican 
schemes  for,  25 

Internal  revenue  system,  Republican 
propositions  in  regard  to,  26 

Internal   revenue   taxes,    18,    19,    77, 

78 
International  copyright,  341-343 


Interstate  commerce,  relations  of  pro 
posed  Labor  Bureau  to,  334,  335  I 
duties  of  Federal  government  when 
interfered  wilh  by  labor  disputes,  336 

Interviews,  Nashville  Amciican,  Feb. 
i,  1890,344;  New  York  Commercial 
Advertiser,  Sept.  19,  1889,  343  I 
New  York  Daily  Continent,  April  12, 
1891,  345,  346  ;  New  York  Herald. 
Dec.  JO,  1883,  63 

Interviewing,  how  rendered  easy,  346 

Intimidation.    See  VOTERS. 

Invention,  progress  of,  192 

Iowa,  Democratic  victory  in,  305 

Ireland,  215,  225 

Iroquois  Club,  Chicago,  letter  to, 
March  25,  1892,  483 

JACKSON,  ANDREW,  98,  265,  279-281, 

283,  484-486,  488 
Jackson  Club,  Columbus,  letter  to,  Jan. 

4,  1886,  484 

Jacksonian  Democracy.  266 
"  Jackson's  Day,"  485,  488 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  36,  247,  264.  272, 

480-483 
Jewelers'    Association   of    New  York, 

speech  at  annual  dinner,  166-169 
Johnson,  Andrew,  impeachment  of,  470 
Johnson,  R.  U.,  342 
Joiners,  census  returns,  80 
Joint  high  commissioners,  506-507 

KANSAS  CITY,  Mo.,  address  before 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
184,185 

Kings  County,  N.  Y..  letter  to  Demo 
cracy  of,  Oct.  30,  1889,  288-290; 
loyal  Democracy  of ,  307,  308;  Demo- 
cratic  headquarters,  480 

Kings  County  Democratic  Club,  letter 
to,  Feb.  2,  1888,  406,  407 

Krichbaum,  Charles,  105 

LABOR,  protection  of,  5,  ",12,  16,  17, 
36,  67,  79,  95,  153-  247.  301,  325 
dignity  of,  II  ;  interest  in  taxation 
questions,  20  ;  effecl  of  stagnation 
of  trade  on,  21  ;  effecl  of  revenue 
laws  upon,  22,  23,  69,  71,  89,  93, 
327  ;  regard  for  in  readjustment  of 
revenue  laws,  23,  71,  72,  78  ;  Dem 
ocratic  policy  in  regard  to,  23,  24  ; 


560 


INDEX. 


importance  in  the  Republic,  71,  333; 
as  a  consumer,  71  ;  necessaries  of 
life  and  luxuries  for,  71  (see  also 
NECESSARIES  OF  LIFE);  foundation 
of  our  development  and  progress,  79; 
supposed  necessityof  tariff  legislation 
for  protection  of,  79,  8 1  ;  improve 
ment  in  condition  by  reduction  of 
taxation  on  raw  material,  85;  increas 
ing  gulf  between  employers  and,  91  ; 
benefits  to,  from  tariff  reform,  93  ;  re 
lations  of  the  building  trade  to,  172  ; 
intimidation  of,  at  the  polls,  268  ;  the 
strength  of  a  State,  300  ;  Republi 
can  idea  of  protection  of,  326  ;  com 
petition  with  pauper  labor  of  Europe, 
326  ;  where  its  interest  lies;  327, 
arbitration  of  disputes,  332-336  ; 
rights  of,  333 ;  establishment  of 
Bureau  of  Labor,  335,  336;  effectsof 
contraction  of  currency  on,  364,  365; 
effects  of  unlimited  coinage  of  silver 
on,  367  ;  effects  of  Silver  Coinage 
Act  upon,  371  ;  Tilden's  estimate  of, 
487 

Labor  and  capital,  relations  of,  5,  91, 
124,  336,  337 

Labor  Bureau,  proposed  establishment 
of.  334,  335  :  established,  335,  336 

Labor  the  capital  of  our  workingmen,  7 1 

Laborers,  appointment  of  Department, 
to  clerical  duty,  59,  60  ;  census  re 
turns,  80 

Land,  taxation  of,  20 

Land  laws,  complications  in,  424,  425 

Land  League,  215 

Land  system,  reforms  in,  426,  427 

Latin  Union,  conference  of  the,  369, 
370 

Law,  to  be  used  for  the  protection  of 
citizens,  330  ;  practice  of,  as  incite 
ment  to  patriotism,  352 

Law's  delay,  330 

Learned  professions,  210 

Legal  profession,  importance  and  re 
sponsibilities  of,  205-206  ;  things 
in  common  with  the  medical  pro 
fession,  210-213 

Legislation,  unduly  influenced,  5, 
33°,  331  ;  private  and  special,  175- 
177  ;  how  to  secure  necessary, 
236,  237  ;  necessity  of  enlisting 
business  men  in,  313 


Legislative  bills  of  a  purely  local 
character,  331-332 

Legislative  interference  with  munici 
palities,  4 

Letters,  accepting  nomination  for 
Governor,  Oct.  7,  1882,  3-6  ;  ac 
cepting  nomination  for  President, 
Aug.  18,  1884,  9-13  ;  accepting  re- 
nomination  for  President,  Sept.  8, 
1888,  15-27  ;  accepting  resignation 
of  Dorman  B.  Eaton,  Sept.  u, 
1885,  43-46  ;  on  removal  of  William 
A.  Stone,  Nov.  23,  1886,  50-53  ; 
to  a  deceiving  politician,  Aug.  I, 
'885,  536 

Liberty,  the  genius  of.  222 

Libraries,  improper  legislation  regard- 
.ing.  332 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  253 

Literature,  pernicious,  191 

Live-stock,  health  regulations  con 
cerning,  514 

Local  government,  4 

Local  legislation,  331,  332 

Locke,  Franklin  D. ,  540 

Log-rolling,  175 

Lunatic  asylums,  ill  treatment  in,  200 

Luther.  Martin,  252 

Luxuries,  taxation  of,  85 

McCoNViLL,  JOHN,  letter  to,  Nov.  ir, 

1891,  497 

McKinley,  A.   B.,  letter  to,  Feb.  5, 

1892,  488,  489 

Magical  hand  of  labor,  the,  69 

Maine,  Democracy  in,  259 

"Maintenance  of  national  honor," 
498-511 

Makeshifts  and  temporary  expedients, 
287  _ 

Malt  liquors,  taxation  of,  77 

Manhattan  Club,  New  York,  speech 
at,  242-244 

Manhattan  Railway  Company,  veto 
of  Five-Cent  Fare  Bill,  438-446 

Manufactures,  influence  of  tariff  on, 
22,23;  protection  of  American,  78,  79 

Manufacturers,  suspected  combina 
tions  among,  79 

Manufacturing  pursuits,  census  re 
turns,  80 

Masons,  census  returns,  80 

Massachusetts,    patriotism    of,     149 ; 


INDEX. 


leadership  in  civil-service  and  ballot 
reform,  154,  155  ;  love  for,  238 ; 
Democratic  victory  in,  305  ;  resi 
dence  in,  316 ;  history,  tradition, 
and  achievements  of,  317  ;  educa 
tion  in,  318  ;  independence  of  party 
trammels,  319  ;  motive  power  of  the 
conscience  of,  320 

Massachusetts  Tariff  Reform  League, 
letter  to,  Dec.  24,  1888,  99-100 

Mayor,  letter  accepting  nomination  at 
Buffalo,  I,  2  ;  inaugural  message 
to  Common  Council  of  Buffalo,  28- 

3i 

Mayoralty,  estimate  of  office,  296 

Mechanic  arts,  education  in,  231 

Medical  Alumni  Association  of  New 
York,  speech  before,  209-214 

Medical  profession,  importance  of, 
208-209 ;  things  in  common  with 
lawyers,  210-213 

Merchants'  Association  of  Boston, 
address  to,  148-155 

Merchants'  Association  of  Milwaukee, 
speech  before,  145,  146 

Messages  :  first  to  New  York 
Legislature,  Jan.  2,  1883,  62,  63  ; 
second  to  New  York  Legislature, 
Jan.  i,  1884,  63-67,  329-332  ;  first 
annual,  to  Congress,  Dec.  8,  1885, 
67,  68,  33S-34I,  365-371,  377,  408- 
412,  424,  425,  490,  512-518,  521- 
342  ;  second  annual  to  Congress, 
Dec.  6,  1886,  68,  336,  337,  341, 
342,  372,  373,  382,  383,  412-415, 
425-427,, 5 15  ;  third  annual  to  Con 
gress,  Dec.  6,  1887,  72-87  ;  fourth 
annual  to  Congress,  Dec.  3,  1888, 
88-98,  373,  405,  406,  419-423,  431, 
432,  494 ;  to  Buffalo  Common 
Council,  June  5,  1882,  180,  181  ;  to 
Congress,  on  labor  questions,  April 
22  and  Dec.,  1886,  332-337  ;  on 
Elizabeth  S.  De  Krafft  Pension  Bill, 
June  21,  1886,  379,  380  ;  on  Fran 
cis  Deeming  Pension  Bill,  July  5, 

1886,  381,     382  ;     on    the    Loren 
Burritt     Pension    Bill,     Feb.      21, 

1887,  396  ;      on    the    Mary    Ann 
Dougherty    Pension    Bill,    July    5, 

1888,  401-403  ;     on    the    Theresa 
Herbst  Pension  Bill,  July  17,  1888, 
404,  405 ;    on   Oleomargarine    Act, 


Aug.  2,  1889,  475-479  ;  on  death 
of  Gen.  P.  H.  Sheridan,  Aug.  6, 
1888,  493,  494  ;  to  U.  S.  Senate, 
on  giving  reasons  for  removal  from 
office,  March  I,  1886,  464-475  ;  to 
New  York  Senate,  on  Immigration 
Commissioner,  May  4,  1883,  462- 
464  ;  raison  d'etre  for  Presidential, 
86,  87  ;  United  States  Constitu 
tional  provision  in  regard  to,  332 

Messengers,  appointment  of  Depart 
ment,  to  clerical  duty,  59,  60 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  resolu 
tions  at  annual  conference,  1888, 

415 
Metropolitan    Elevated    Railway  Co., 

439 

Mexican  War  pensions.  See  PEN 
SIONS. 

Michigan,   Democratic  victory  in,  305 
Mil  burn,  John  G.,  540 
Militia,  5,  113 
Miller,  Guilford,  claim  to  public  land, 

427-430 

Milliners,  census  returns,  80 
Milwaukee,  speech  at,  145,  146 
Mining  pursuits,  census  returns,  80 
Miscellaneous  recommendations,  512- 

525 

Missionary  societies,  claims  for,  416 

Monetary  Conference  of  1881,  369 

Money,  free  circulation  o*f,  20,  21 

Money-getting,  355 

Monopolies,  17,  91,  319,  524 

Monroe  doctrine,  36,  522 

Montclair,  N.  J.,  letter  to  Tariff  Re 
form  Club,  Feb.  3,  1891,  104 

Montgomery,  Isaiah  T.,  letter  to,  Jan. 
14,  1891,  344,  345 

Moral  issues  in  politics,  343 

Mormons,  restriction  of  immigration 
of,  34« 

Morrow,  Rev.  James,  letter  to,  March 
29,  1888,  415-419 

Mortgages,  laws  of  taxation  in  regard 
to,  64 

Municipal  employees,  sale  of  claims 
by,  36.  See  also  PUBLIC  SER 
VANTS. 

Municipal  government,  reform  in,  I, 
2  ;  home  rule  in,  4  ;  economy  in, 
28  ;  true  principles  of,  29,  108,  109, 
183,  434-436  ;  foundation  of,  35 


INDEX. 


Municipal  offices,  hours  of  work  in,  30 
Municipal  reform,  I,  2 

Music,   128,   I2Q,  220,    221 

Nashville  American,  interview  in,  Feb. 

i,  1890,  344 
Nation,    the   home    the    strength    of, 

339 

National  Association  of  Clubs,  letter 
to,  Sept.  14,  1888,  285,  286 

National  banks,  increase  of  circulating- 
medium  through,  365 

National  character,  instrumentalities 
in  molding,  184,  185 

National  Civil-Service  Reform  League, 
letter  to,  Dec.  25,  1884,  41-43 

National  debt,  proposition  for  pay 
ment  of,  76 

National  defense,  16 

National  domain,  16 

National  growth,  159,  160,  170,  349 

National  honor,  maintenance  of,  498- 

5ii 

National  issues,  Republican  defeats  on, 
306  ;  close  connection  with  State 
issues,  314 

National  progress,  208,  209 

National  prosperity,  foundation  of, 
319,  350,  425,  550 

National  revenue.  See  REVENUE  ; 
TARIFF  ;  TAXATION. 

National  wealth,  what  constitutes,  429 

Naturalization  of  immigrants,  u,  216, 
217,  240  ;  cancellation  of,  524,  525; 
safeguards  in  granting,  524  ;  pro 
posed  central  bureau  of  record  of, 

525 

Navy  Department,  classification  of 
employees  in,  56  ;  reorganization  of, 
5*2,  513 

Nebraska,  Democracy  in,  258 

Necessaries  of  life,  taxation  of,  22.  23, 
63,  70-72,  77,  78,  85,  89,  92,  93,  95; 
Republican  ideas  in  fegard  to,  26, 
252  ;  relation  of  cost  of  to  price  of 
labor,  80  ;  benefit  to  the  people  by 
cheapening,  86  ;  enhanced  .cost  of, 
89;  justice  of  reform  of  duties  on, 
93.  253,  319,  325;  necessity  of  re 
duction  of  cost  of,  95 

Negro,  education  of  the,  344,  345  ; 
rights  of,  17,  37 

Neutrality,  American,  35,  36 


Newark,  N.  J.,  speech  at,  299-302  ; 
population  and  industries  of,  300 

New  England,  love  for,  238  ;  farm 
ing  in,  239 

New  England  principles,  239 

New  England  Society  of  Brooklyn, 
speech  before,  237-241 

New    Hampshire,   Democracy   in,  259 

New  Jersey,  position  in  the  Union,  237; 
farming  and  manufacturing  interests 
of,  300;  position  of  the  Democracy 
in,  343 

New  Orleans,  exports  of,  no  ;  battle 
of,  279,  280,  484,  485 

Newspapers.     See  PRESS. 

New  York  Academy  of  Medicine,  ad 
dress  before,  207-209 

New  York  Business  Men's  Associa 
tion,  letter  to,  Dec.  26,  1890,  484,  485 

New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
letter  to,  Nov.  4,  1887,  146,  147  ; 
banquets  of,  155-158,  162-166 

New  York  City,  civil-service  reform  in, 
39;  Evacuation  Day  celebration,  109- 
1 1 1 :  importance  of  maritime  position, 
no  ;  necessity  of  caring  for  com 
merce  of ,  no  ;  importance  of  main 
taining  its  port,  in  ;  Washington 
Inauguration  Centennial,  122-124, 
Washington  Arch,  228-229  ;  clo:-e 
interests  with  State  and  National 
questions,  313,  314  ;  position  of 
Democracy  on  leading  State  and 
National  affairs,  314  ;  veto  of  Ele 
vated  Railroad  Five-Cent  Fare  Bill, 
438^446;  Rapid  Transit  in,  442-446; 
speeches  in,  109-111,  155-173,  198- 
202,  207-214,  225-229,  233-237, 
242-249,  256-263,  271-274,  278- 
283,  303-307 

New  York  Civil-Service  Reform  Asso 
ciation,  letters  to,  Oct.  28,  1882,  38, 
39;  Oct.  24,  1884,  41 

New  York  Clearing  House,  connec 
tion  of  U.  S.  Treasury  with,  364 

New  York  Commercial  Advertiser,  in 
terview  in,  Sept.  19,  1889,  343 

New  York  Constitution,  census  pro 
visions  of,  309  ;  provisions  in  regard 
to  local  legislation,  331  ;  provision 
as  to  county,  etc.,  expenditures,  433, 
434,  438  ;  alteration  of  charters  un 
der,  444 


HfDEX. 


563 


New  York  Convention  of  Democratic 
Clubs,  letter  to,  Oct.  21,  1889,  287, 
288 

New  York  Daily  Continent,  inter 
view  in,  April  12,  1891,  345,  346 

New  York  Democratic  Club,  speeches 
before,  April  27,  1889,  244-249  ; 
April  13,  1891,  271-274 

New  York  Elevated  Railway  Co., 
439,  44^-443 

New  York  Herald,  interview  in,  Dec. 
10,  1883,  63 

New  York  Legislature,  difficulties  at 
tending  legislation  by,  234-237;  mes 
sages  to.  See  MESSAGES. 

New  York  Reform  Club  meeting, 
letter  to,  Feb.  10,  1891,  374 

New  York  Reform  Club,  speech  before, 
Dec.  23,  1890,  256-263 

N.  Y.  Senate,    power  and   rights   of, 

463 

New  York  Southern  Society,  speech 
before,  Feb.  22,  1890,  348-352 

New  York  State,  leadership  among 
States,  65,  375,  376,  535  ;  impor 
tance  of,  112;  population,  112;  ad 
ministration  of  justice,  113  ;  agri 
culture,  133-139  ;  Democracy,  259  ; 
key  to  an  important  political  posi 
tion,  297;  importance  of  Democratic 
supremacy  in,  305  ;  reasons  for 
Democratic  government  in,  306  ;  im 
portance  of  vote  in  national  cam 
paign,  308  ;  unity  of  Republican 
Party  in,  with  Republican  govern 
ment  at  Washington,  309  ;  Demo 
cratic  majorities  in  1885,  309  ;  in 
1886,  309-311;  in  1887,310;  in 
1888,  310,311;  in  1889,  310;  in 
1890,  310  ;  readjustment  of  Con 
gressional  districts,  310  ;  cession  of 
public  domain  to  U.  S.,  424 

New  York  State  Bar  Association,  ad 
dress  before,  Jan.  8,  1884.  205,  206 

Niagara  Falls  Park,  234,  235 

Nicaragua  Canal,  521,  522 

New  York  State  Charities  Aid  Associa 
tion,  speech  before,  197-202 

Noah,  pioneer  in  building,  170,  171 

Nominating  conventions,  Federal 
officers  in,  50 

Nominations,  letters  and  speeches  ac 
cepting,  1-27 


Northern  and  Southern  Presbyterian 
Assemblies,  address  before,  187, 
1 88. 

Northern  Pacific  Railroad  Co.,  claim 
to  public  land,  428-430 

Norwich,  Conn.,  238 

Noyes,  Alex.  D.,  104 

OBSTRUCTION,  15,  25 
Offensive  partisanship,  12,  13,  41,  42, 
49,  51-53.  304.     See  also  PARTISAN 
SHIP. 

Officeholders,  power  of,  n,  302,  303  ; 
conscience  of,  28,  29  ;  formation  of 
class  of,  39,  154,  283;  temptations 
for,  47  ;  civil-service  reform  in  re 
lation  to,  48  ;  warning  to,  49,  50  ; 
rights  of,  49,  50  ;  influence  of  Fed 
eral,  50  ;  honorable  obligations  of, 
52 

Officeholding,  mania  for,  47  ;  as  a 
business,  337,  338  ;  a  wduty  of  citi 
zenship,  361 

Offices,  abolition  of  unnecessary,  62 
Office-seekers  and  office-seeking,  146, 

338 

Official  papers,  what  are,  469 
Officials    as    trustees.     See      PUBLIC 

OFFICE  is  A  PUBLIC  TRUST. 
Ogdensburg,  speech  at,  133-136 
Ohio,    Democratic    victories   in,    298, 

305 

Ohio  Democracy,  259,  343,  480,  481 
Oleomargarine  Act,  message  to  Con 
gress    suggesting     certain    amend 
ments  to,  Aug.  2,  475-476 
Organ,  the,  in  American  families,  161 
Organization      of      Supreme      Court, 

speech  at  celebration  of,  125-127 
Oswegatchie    Fair,    speech    at,     133- 
136 

PACIFIC  RAILROADS,  land-grants  to, 
517,  5i8 

Panama  ship  canals  and  railways, 
521-524 

Panic,  threatened,  74,  77,  84 

Paris  Exposition,  160 

Parnell,  Charles  S.,  tribute  to,  497 

Partisanship,  4,  6,  15,  33,  36,  41, 
44,  45,  47,  48,  51,  53,  85,  113,  224, 
226,  242,  246,  248,  254,  255,  267, 
269,  271,  277,  283,  291,  309,  319, 


564 


INDEX. 


333,  334,  405-407,  449,  462,  463, 
470,  511,  541,  544  ;  should  not  in 
terfere  with  tariff  legislation,  85  ; 
patriotic,  271  ;  offensive,  see  OF 
FENSIVE  PARTISANSHIP. 

Party  corruption,  9 

"Party  courage  is  party  expediency," 
283 

"  Party  faithlessness  is  party  dishonor," 
282 

Party  feeling,  3 

"  Party  honesty  is  party  duty,"  283 

"  Party  honesty  is  party  expediency," 

343 

Party  lines,  obliteration  of,  52 

Party  machinery  futile  against  popular 
will,  242 

Party  organization,  true  purpose  of,  9 

Party  tyranny,  9,  10 

Paternal  government,  177 

Patriotic  questions,  addresses  on,  215- 
241 

Patriotism,  15,  125-127,  130,  131,  139, 
140,  144,  146,  147,  8149,  151,  155, 
157,  166-169,  174,  177,  186,  226, 
227,  229,  250,  251,  262,  263, 
268,  271,  286,  287,  293,  318,  323, 
339,  345,  349-352,  354,  356-358, 
376,  382,  383,  393,  406,  407,  425, 
481-484,  486,  488,  496,  497,  500, 
512,  535,  544,  545 

Patronage,  n,  42,  47,  321  ;  greed  for, 
301,  463.  See  also  APPOINTMENT 
TO  OFFICE  AS  REWARD  FOR  PARTY 
SERVICE. 

Paupers,  ill  treatment  of,  100 

Peace  policy,  35 

Pendleton  bill,  38 

Pennsylvania,  letter  to  Annual  Grange 
Picnic  of,  Aug.  27,  1888,  140,  141  ; 
Democracy  in,  270  ;  letter  to  Demo 
cratic  Societies  of,  Oct.  n,  1889, 
286,  287  ;  Democratic  victory  in, 

305 

Pensions,  proper  grounds  for  allow 
ance  of,  17  ;  false  grounds  for  allow 
ance  of,  96  ;  injustice  in  legislation, 
97  ;  liberality  in  granting  should  not 
be  tempered  with  fraud,  377  ;  inex 
pediency  of  special  legislation  for, 
378  ;  grounds  for  allowing,  380,  383  ; 
frauds  in  application  for,  380  ;  in 
crease  of,  381  ;  American  idea  in 


regard  to,  382,  383  ;  for  injuries 
received  in  service,  384  ;  service  pen 
sions,  384  et  seq.  ;  Revolutionary 
War  pensions,  384-386  ;  War  of 
1812  pensions,  385  ;  Mexican  War 
pensions,  385,  386  ;  what  is  a  sup 
port,  389  ;  Civil  War  pensions,  sta 
tistics  of,  386,  390,  393,  394  ; 
arrearages  of,  393  ;  the  pension  list 
a  roll  of  honor,  402,  403 

Pension  agents,  392,  393 

Pension  bills,  reasons  for  signing  and 
for  disallowing,  3/8-380,  384-396, 
400-405 

Pension  Bureau,  reforms  in,  377,  378  ; 
reversal  of  decisions  of,  by  Con 
gressional  committee,  377  ;  appro 
priation  for,  381  ;  weakness  in,  382  ; 
adjudications  of,  overruled  by  spe 
cial  acts  of  Congress,  402,  403 

Pension  laws,  needed  revision  of,  405 

"  People's  Cause, The,"  321,  322,  328, 

Pernicious  activity,  50 

Pernicious  literature,  191 

Personal  feelings,  I 

Personal  property,  laws  of  taxation  in 
regard  to,  62,  64 

Philadelphia,  patriotism  in,  121;  let 
ter  to  Kensington  Reform  Club, 
May  9,  1890,  102,  103  ;  Constitu 
tion  Centennial,  118-121  ;  dinner  of 
Historical  and  Scientific  Societies, 
121,  122  ;  letter  to  Catholic  Club, 
Jan.  26,  1887,  183,  184  ;  speeches 
at,  144,  145,  187,  188,  224,  225,  263- 
271 

Philadelphia  Brigade,  397 

Philadelphia  Young  Men's  Demo 
cratic  Association,  speech  before, 
Jan.  8,  1891,  263-271 

Piano,  the,  in  American  families,  161, 
162 

Piano  and  Organ  Manufacturers' ban 
quet,  speech  at,  April  24,  1890,  158- 
162 

Piano  manufacture,  160,  161 

Pickelt's  Division,  reunion  of,  397 

Pierce,  Henry  L.,  320 

Pilgrim  Fathers,   238-240 

Pioneers,  16,  17,  108 

Place-holding  as  a  business,   337,    338 

Plain  speech,  436 

Plasterers,  census  returns,  80 


56S 


Pleuro-pneumonia,  515 

Plymouth  Rock,  317,  545 

Political  action,  necessity  of  freedom 
in,  50 

Political  activity,  false,  361 

Political  ancestry,  pride  in,*2y2 

Political  assessments,  39 

Political  campaigns,  Federal  officers 
in,  50 

Political  canvasses,  speeches  in,  296- 
328 

Political  clubs,  brief  life  of,  288 

Political  clubs  and  organizations, 
speeches  and  letters  to,  242-295 

Political  conventions,  Federal  officers 
in,  50 

Political  preferment,  indispensable  cre 
dentials  for,  360 

Political  prosperity,  the  supports  of, 
350 

Political  selfishness  and  its  anti 
dotes,  148-155.  See  also  SELFISH 
NESS  IN  POLITICS. 

Politics,  relation  to  education,  114;  mis 
conception  of,  135,  174  I  true,  275  ; 
moral  issues  in,  343  ;  danger  of 
making  a  trade  of,  349;  deceit  in, 
536,  537 

Polygamy,    suppression   of,  in   Utah, 

36,  338-340 

Poorhouses,  management  of,  200 

Popular  government,  3,  10,  14,  18,  33, 
67,  88,  94,  115,  118,  120-127,  131, 
135,  136,  142,  144-148,  150,  152, 
153,  155,  156,  167-170,  174,  186, 
189,  197,  209,  216,  217,  222,  226, 
227,  240,  242,  243,  250,  251,  253, 
262,  269,  270,  272,  277,  283,  291, 
301-303,  322,  323,  348-350,  356, 
357 ,  493.  497  ;  economy  and  main 
tenance  of,  90  ;  retrospection  re 
garding,  90,  91.  See  also  GOVERN 
MENT  BY  THE  PEOPLE. 

Popular  will,  242 

Portsmouth,  O.,  veto  of  public  build 
ing  bill,  519 

Postal  service,  vacancies  in,  and  ap 
pointments  to,  58 

Post  Office  Department,  classification 
of  employees  in,  56 

Poverty  driven  to  desperation,  94 

Presbyterian  Assemblies,  address  be 
fore,  187 


Presbyterianism,  187,  188,  193,  194 

Pre-emption  Act,  426  ;  repeal  recom 
mended,  427 

President,  Constitutional  provision  in 
regard  to  his  duties,  86 

President,  power  of  suspension  of 
officers,  469-471 

Presidential  campaigns,  reaction  after, 
289 

Presidential  office,  estimate  of,  10,  14- 
16,  32-35,  37,  115-118,  121-123. 
139,  145,  146,  223,  247,  464,  465, 
467-475,  546-549  ;  re-election  to,  n 

Press,  the,  225,  226,  229  ;  as  educator 
of  the  people,  262  ;  need  of  cleanli 
ness  in  editing  and  reporting,  345, 
346 

Primaries,  protection  of,  3  ;  Federal 
officers  in,  50 

Principles  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  480- 

483 
Principles  of  true  Democracy,  263- 

271 
Private  interests  and  public  welfare, 

34 

Private  land  claims,  425 

Private  legislation,  175-177 

Private  pension  bills,  377-382,  396, 
401-405 

Proclamations,  on  death  of  General 
Grant,  July  23,  1885,  489  ;  on  death 
of  ex-President  Arthur,  Nov.  18, 
1886,  491 

Professional  bodies,  addresses  before, 
203-214 

Professional  pursuits,  census  returns, 
80 

Protection,  cry  of,  25,  177  ;  Repub 
lican  doctrine  of,  26,  326  ;  relation 
to  reduction  of  revenue,  67  ;  effect 
of  growth  of  the  nation  on  necessity 
for,  70  ;  effect  of  policy  on  con 
sumers,  78,  319,  324  ;  action  toward 
tariff  reform  preferable  to  theorizing 
about,  86  ;  effect  on  farmers,  142 

Providence,  R.  I.,  speeches  at,  173- 
177,  321-328 

Public  affairs,  management  of,  6 

Public-building  bills,  vetoes  of,  518- 
521 

Public  buildings,  wrongful  appropria 
tions  for,  96 

Public  debt,  reduction  of,  68        *  • 


INDEX. 


Public  documents,  Senatorial  access  to, 

466-467 

Public  domain,  36,  424-432 
Public  expenditures,  I,  17,  18,  35 
Public  extravagance.     See  EXTRAVA 
GANCE. 

Public     funds,    misappropriation    of, 
433-435,  437,  438,  45O  ;   squander 
ing  of,  462,  463 
Public  health,  235 
Publicity  of  corporations,  329-331 
Public  lands,  reform  in  regard  to,  96  ; 
railroad  grants,  517,  518.      See  also 
PUBLIC  DOMAIN. 

"  Public  office  is  a  public  trust,"  2,  3, 
4,  6,  8,  10,  12,  28,  29,  33,  35,  39, 
42,  50,  67,  90,  97,  109,  113,  115, 

I2O,   121,    J23,    136,    145,    147,    156, 

167,  168,  186,  216,  227,  242- 
245,  251,  253,  264,  265,  275, 
277,  281-283,  292,  299,  302,  303, 
357,  358,  361,  395,  399,  4OO,  435, 
437,  473,  487,  495,  497,  534,  54&, 
549 

Public  officers  are  the  People's  serv 
ants,  302 

Public  schools.     See  EDUCATION. 

Public  servants,  12,  35,  36,  38-41 

Public  surveys,  426 

QUINCY,    JOSIAH,   320 

RACE  QUESTION,  solution  of  the 
Southern,  344,  345 

Railroad  commissioners,  action  on 
filing  of  quarterly  reports  by  rail 
road  companies,  329-331 

Railroad  commissions,  usefulness  of, 
335 

Railroad  companies,  filing  of  quar 
terly  reports  by,  329-331 

Railroad  land  grants,  97,  428-430, 
517,  518 

Railroads,   160  ;  importance  of,  112 

Rapid  Transit  Act,  442 

Raw  materials,  demand  for  free  entry 
of,  327,  328.  See  also  DOMESTIC 
MANUFACTURES  ;  TARIFF. 

Real  property,  laws  of  taxation  in 
regard  to,  64,  65 

"  Rebel  Brigadiers,"  a  Republican  bug 
bear,  326 

Rebuilding  of  the  navy,  512,  513 


Reciprocity,  162,  163,  259,  357 

"  Reciprocity  Treaties  and  the  Rev 
enue,"  340 

Reed,  T.  B.,  259 

Reform,  tariff.     See  TARIFF  REFORM. 

Reform  £lub,  New  York,  speech  at, 
256-263;  letter  to,  Feb.  10,  1891, 

374 

Religion,  benefits  of  true,  183,  184; 
foundation  of  our  national  structure, 
357 

Religious  and  charitable  organizations, 
speeches  and  letters  to,  178-202 

Religious  teaching,  123 

Religious  toleration,  123 

Removal  from  office,  on  giving  reasons 
for,  464,  475  ;  early  construction  of 
the  Constitution  in  regard  to,  470  ; 
removal  for  cause,  474.  See  also 
CIVIL  SERVICE  REFORM. 

Renomination  to  Presidency  in  1888, 
speech  to  committee,  13-15  ;  letters 
concerning,  549,  550 

Reporters,  character  of ,  345,  346 

Representative  government,  3 

Republican  corruption  and  dishonesty, 
305 

Republican  form  of  government,  meth 
ods  of,  35 

Republican  institutions,  foundations 
of,  4  ;  perversion  of,  254 

Republican  Party,  schemes  for  internal 
revenue  and  tariff  reform,  25  ;  sneers 
at  tariff  reform,  258  ;  election 
schemes  of,  267;  precarious  existence 
of,  308  ;  efforts  to  nullify  popular 
suffrage,  308,  309  ;  questionable 
honesty  in  readjustment  ot  Congres 
sional  districts,  311  ;  weakness  of, 
in  State  campaign  of  1891,  314,  315  : 
lesson  of  the  eighth  commandment 
for,  328 

Republican  rule,  abuses  of  national 
affairs,  306 

Republics,  kinships  of,  222 

Retaliation,  policy  of,  499-511  ; 
"  boomerang  "  action  of,  502,  503 

Revenue,  adjustment  of  laws  in  favor 
of  labor,  23  ;  excess  of,  over  expend 
iture,  67  ;  reduction  of,  67,  68,  95  ; 
Act  to  provide,  Aug.  5,  1861,  452, 

453 
Revenue  and  reciprocity  treaties,  340 


INDEX.  567 

Revenue  laws,  revision   of,  63;   rela-  "Sentiment   in    our    National    Life," 

tions  towages,  71  ;  proposed  amend-  352-362 

mentto,  72  Service  pensions.     See  PENSIONS. 

Revenue   reform,  24,   136,  141,    142;  Settlers,   16,   17,   36;    rights  of,  427- 

Democratic  position  in  regard  10,24-  430 

27  Sheehy,  Father,  215 

Revolutionary    War     pensions.       See  Sheep.     See  WOOL. 

PENSIONS.  Sheridan,  Gen.  P.  II.,  tribute  to,  493, 

Rhode  Island,    address  to  Democracy  494 

of,    321-328  ;   demand    of  free   raw  Ship  canals,  521-524 

material,  327,  328  Shipping,   prosperity  and  decline   of, 

Richmond,  Va.,  speech  at  State  Fair,  66 

139,   140  Ship  railway,  522 

River  and  harbor  bills,  2/6  Silver,      coinage     of,      letters,      mes- 

Rivers,  effects  of  forests  on,  234-236  sages,  etc.,  on,  3^3-374  I  deprecia- 

Rochester,  semi-centennial  of,  112-113  tion   in,  363,  365-368,  372  ;  limita- 

Roll  of  honor,  a,  392,  402  tions     on     amount,    365  ;    increase 

Roman  Catholic  Church,  183  of    coinage   over   circulation,    366; 

Russell,  William  A.,  320  suspension  of  coinage  of,  364,  371, 

373 

SAILORS,     17  ;       their     widows    and  Silver  Coinage  Act,  effect  upon  trade, 

orphans,  17  371 

Sandwich,  Mass.,  speech  at,  542-548  Sinking  fund,  contributions  to,   73-75 

Sangerfest,  Buffalo,  128,  220,  221  Sinking-Fund  Act,  73 

Santo    Domingo,     reciprocity    treaty  Sioux  Indians.     See  INDIANS. 

with,  340  Smith,  C.  Kinney,  letter  to,  Dec.  26, 

Savings   banks,    effect   of    the  Silver  1890,  484,  485 

Coinage  Act  on,  371  Social  and  economic  questions,   mes- 

Schools,  mismanagement  of,  39  sages,  speeches,  etc.,  on,  329-347 

Schurz,  Carl,  163  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 

Scollard,  Dr.,  538  to  Children,  180,  181 

Scott,    William    L.,    tribute   to,    496,  Soldier,  the  true,  is  a  good  citizen,  402 

497  Soldiers,     17  ;       their     widows     and 

Sea  coast,  protection  of,  512  orphans,    17  ;  the  best,    should  be 

Seamstresses,  census  returns,  80  the  best  citizens,  407 

Seattle,   Wash,,   letter  to    Democracy  Soldiers'  homes,  381,  392 

of,  April  2,  1891,  482,  483  Soldiers'  monuments,  improper  legis- 

Second  terms  in  Presidential  chair,  n  lation  regarding,   332 

Secretary  of  the  Interior,  powers  with  South,  solution  of  the  race  question  in 

regard  to  Indians,  411  the,  344,  345 

Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  powers  of,  Southern    Society  of   New  York,  ad- 

in  regard  to  surplus,  75,  76  dress  before,  348-352 

Sectional  prejudice,  325  Spain,  reciprocity  treaty  with,  340 

Semi-centennials,    Buffalo,     107-109  ;  Spanish-speaking    people,    reciprocity 

Rochester,  112,  113  with,  162 

Selfishness  in  politics,   148-155,  227-  Special  legislation,  175-^77 

229,  240,  253,  254,  262,  267,  268,  Speculation,  138 

276,  277,  283,  294,  355,  481.       See  Spirits,   internal    revenue  tax  on,  25, 

also  POLITICAL  SELFISHNESS.  26 

Senatorial    districts,    readjustment  of,  Spirituous  liquors,  taxation  of,  77 

309  Spoils  system,   42,    44,   45,   48,    224, 

Sentiment,    American,    352,  354-360,  246,  294,  544 

362  Springer,  164,  165 


568 


INDEX. 


Springfield,  O.,  Iett«r  to  Democracy 
of,  Feb.  3,  1891,  480,  481 

St.  Clair  Flats  Canal,  510 

St.  James's  Hall,  Buffalo,  address  at, 
215-218 

St.  Lawrence  Canal,  510 

St.  Lawrence  County,  133 

St.  Lawrence  River,  505 

St.  Louis,  letter  to  Mayor  of,  July  4, 
1887,  398-401 

St.  Stephen's  Hall,  Buffalo,  address 
at,  215 

Stage,  influence  of  the,  194-196 

State,  power  to  exact  taxation,  62  ; 
protection  to  property  the  basis  of 
taxation  by,  62  ;  relation  to  corpora 
tions,  329-331  ;  duties  of  citizens 
to,  see  CITIZENS,  DUTIES  OF. 

State  campaigns,  importance  to  na 
tional  government,  289 ;  correct 
principles  of,  306 

State  Charities  Aid  Association,  ad 
dress  before,  197-202 

State  farm,  134 

State  government,  foundation  of,  35 

State  issues,  close  connection  with  na 
tional  issues,  314 

State  rights,  98,  125,  127,  475,  478 

Steele,  George,  letter  to,  April  7,  1887, 
498-500 

Steubenville,  O.,  letter  to  Farmers' 
Alliance  Lodge,  March  24,  1890, 
142,  143 

Stone,  William  A.,  reasons  for  re 
moval  of,  50-53 

Street-cleaning  contract  in  Buffalo, 
veto  of,  435-437 

Strikes.     See  LABOR. 

Subsidies,  276 

Suffrage,  proper  exercise  of,  10,  34 ; 
crimes  against,  304  ;  right  of,  309, 
315.  See  also  POPULAR  GOVERN 
MENT. 

Sugar,  contemplated  change  in  duties 
on,  340 

Sumner,  Charles,  318 

Supervisors,  boards  of ,  powers,  331,332 

Supreme  Court.  See  UNITED  STATES 
SUPREME  COURT. 

Surplus.     See  TREASURY  SURPLUS. 

Syracuse,  nomination  for  Governor  at, 
3 

Syracuse  Convention,  platform,  3 


TACOMA,  Wash.,  letter  to  Democracy 
of,  March  26,  1891,  481,  482 

Tailors,  census  returns,  80 

Tammany  Society,  letters  to,  June  29, 
1888,  88-89  J  June  30,  1890,  291, 
292  ;  July  i,  1891,  292,  293 

Tappen,  Abram  B.,  292 

Tariff,  war  rates  in  time  of  peace,  21, 
70  ;  effects  of  a  protective,  on  labor, 
22,  23  ;  influence  on  trusts,  24  ; 
principal  source  of  revenue,  77  ; 
necessity  for  revision  of,  78  ;  inter 
ests  of  labor  to  be  considered  in  re 
adjustment  of,  78  ;  recommendation 
of  reduction  of,  84;  difficulty  at 
tending  revision  of,  84,  95  ;  num 
ber  of  dutiable  articles  under,  85  ; 
unjustness  of,  266  ;  plunderings,  ef 
fects  of,  276  ;  essentials  for  reform 
of,  277  ;  regulation  of,  by  treaty, 
340 ;  revision  in  regard  to  works  of 
art,  341,  342 

Tariff  laws,  precautions  in  reforma 
tion  of,  79,  8 1  ;  waiver  of,  in  favor 
of  Canada,  504,  505 

Tariff  question,  18-23,  25.  26 

Tariff.  See  also  FEDERAL  TAXATION 
and  CUSTOMS  DUTIES. 

Tariff  reform,  36,  159,  323,  325,  326  ; 
Republican  schemes  for,  25  ;  diffi 
culties  attending,  26,  27,  88  ;  the 
demand  for,  26  ;  slurs  on  advocates 
of,  89 ;  benefits  to  labor  from,  93  ; 
advocacy  of,  94  ;  extent  of  benefit 
of,  99  ;  slowness  of  people  to  inves 
tigate  questions  of,  101  ;  activity  in, 
101,  102,  105,  106  ;  widespread  in 
terest  in,  102,  103  ;  growth  of  cause 
in  New  Jersey,  104  ;  interest  of 
farmers  in,  142,  143  ;  advocated  by 
Democratic  Party,  257;  Republican 
victory  over,  260 ;  advocating  the 
cause,  262  ;  Democratic  principle 
of,  281  ;  prominence  of  question, 
314  ;  the  shibboleth  of  tiue  Democ 
racy,  322  ;  vindicated  in  1890,  324; 
Republican  ideas  of,  326,  327  ;  how 
the  people  understand  it,  326,  327  ; 
advance  toward,  343  ;  position  of 
Ohio  and  New  Jersey  in  regard  to, 
343 

Tariff  Reform  Club  of  Hagerstown, 
Md.,  letter  to,  April  29, 1 890,  101,102 


INDEX. 


569 


Taxation,  municipal,  i  ;  proper  appli 
cation  of  funds  arising  from,  6  ; 
Federal,  18-20,  22;  Federal,  wrong 
ful  principles  of,  323  I  direct,  20  ; 
reform  in,  36  ;  power  of  State  to 
exact,  62,  301  ;  discussed  in  mes 
sage  to  New  York  Legislature, 
63-67  ;  rights  of  taxpayers,  64  ;  ad 
vantages  of  personal  property,  64  ; 
oppression  of  real  estate,  64  ;  true 
theory  of,  65,  72,  73,  434,  435,  437, 
457  ;  influence  upon  shipping,  66  ; 
proper  limitations  of,  67  ;  Demo 
cratic  principles  in  regard  to,  248, 
280,  301  ;  robbery  under  the  name 
of,  304,  323  ;  on  account  of 
Civil  War  bounties,  394  ;  Federal 
taxation  at  war  rates,  394  ;  Consti 
tutional  provisions  in  regard  to,  476 
Taxation  and  revenue,  documents  on, 

62-106 

Tehuantepec,  canal  route,  521-524 
Tenure  of  Office  Acts,  472 
Texas    Seed    Bill,  veto   of,    Feb.    16, 

1887,  449-451 
"  Text-books  in  Indian  schools,'  415- 

419 

Thanksgiving     proclamations  :        As 

Governor     of      New     York,     Oct. 

29,     1883,     526,  527  ;      Nov.     8, 

1884,    527.     As   President    of    the 

United     States,      Nov.      2,     1885, 

528,    529;      Nov.      i,    1886,    529, 

530;   Oct.    25,     1887,    530,    531  ; 

Nov.  i,  1888,  531,  532 

"  The  office  should  seek  the  man,"  4 

Thompson,  Samuel  G.,  letter  to,  Jan. 

3,  1891,  485,486 

Thurman,  Allen  G.,  birthday  banquet 
for,     Nov.     13,      1890,     249-255  ; 
letter  to,  Jan.  4,  i886;  484 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  tributes    to,  486- 

489 

Timber  Culture  Act,  repeal  of,  recom 
mended,  427 

Tobacco,  taxation  of,  25,  26,  77 
Trade,  stagnation  in,  20,  21 
Trade  schools,  172 
Transit,    provision    for    shipment    of 

Canadian  goods  in,  504-508 
Transportation,    important   factor    in 

cost  of  commodities,  524 
Transportation  facilities,  12 


Treasury,  Republican  raids  on,  304  ; 

evils  of  a  large  surplus  in,  456,  458 
Treasury  Department,  classification  of 

employees  in,    56;    restrictions   on 

connection  with  private  enterprise, 

76 
Treasury  surplus,    19-22,   105,    325  ; 

avoidance  of,   36  ;    growth  of,  68  ; 

the  tale  it  tells,  69,  88  ;  increase  of, 

72-77;   i  magnitude     and    injustice 

of,  92  ;  popular  opinion  with  regard 

to,  95 
Treaty,    inexpediency    of    regulating 

tariff  by,  340 
Treaty  of  1818,  501,  5°4 
Treaty  of  Washington,  504,  506,  509, 

Tremont  Temple,  Boston,  speech  at, 
316-321 

Trusts,  views  on,  24,  83  ;  creatures  of 
recent  birth,  91  ;  influence  of  the 
tariff  on,  24  ;  Republican  position 
in  regard  to,  25  ;  public,  see  PUB 
LIC  OFFICE,  ETC. 

Truthfulness,  importance  of,  358 

Turtle  Mountain  Indians.  See  IN 
DIANS. 

UNEQUAL  laws,  304 

Uniform  classification  in  the  Depart 
ments,  order  for,  54-57 

United  States,  maritime  possibilities  of, 
66;  natural  advantages  and  resources 
of,  79  ;  birth  of  the  nation,  125-127; 
contemplated  reciprocity  treaties 
with  Spain  and  Santo  Domingo, 
340 

United  States  Attorney-General,  Sen 
ate  demands  upon,  465-467 

United  States  Bank,  Jackson's  posi 
tion  with  regard  to,  281 

United  States  Commissioners,  pro 
posed  additional  powers  for,  516 

United  States  Congress,  need  of  busi 
ness  men  in,  157,  *74  ;  speaker's 
rulings  in,  304  ;  messages  to,  332- 
337  ;  message  to,  Dec.  1 886,  336, 
337  ;  first  annual  message,  Dec.  8, 
1885,  338-341  ;  second  annual  mes 
sage  to.  Dec.  1886,  341,342;  action 
of,  in  regard  to  pension  bills,  378- 
381  ;  Pension  Bureau  overruled  by, 
402,  403 


570 


INDEX. 


United  States  Constitution,  121,  122, 
123,  125,  126,  145  ;  strength  of,  33, 
34  ;  its  widespread  influence,  34  ; 
provision  in  regard  to  Presidential 
duties,  86  ;  the  chart  for  guidance 
of  our  government,  90  ;  foundation 
of  our  government,  98  ;  speech  at 
Centennial  of,  118-121  ;  stability 
of,  nS  ;  difficulties  attending  con 
struction  of.  119-120  ;  Centennial 
celebration  of,  125,  224,  225  ;  Web 
ster's  love  for,  318  ;  provision  in 
'regard  to  Presidential  messages, 332; 
provision  in  regard  to  domestic  vio 
lence,  335  ;  provisions  in  regard  to 
authors  and  inventors,  342  ;  an 
English  opinion  of,  353  ;  Washing 
ton's  share  in  the  formation  of,  353, 
360 ;  grant  of  authority  to  coin 
money,  365  ;  prohibition  of  the  im 
pairment  of  the  obligation  of  con 
tract,  444,  445  ;  expenditure  of 
money  under,  for  the  general  wel 
fare  of  the  United  States,  456 ; 
powers  granted  to  the  President  by, 
470  ;  provision  as^o  revenue  bills, 
476  ;  limitations  of  Federal  power 
under,  487 

United  States  District-Attorneys,  com 
pensation  of,  516,  517 

United  States  Government,  foundation 
of,  356 

United  States  marshals,  compensation 
of,  516,  517 

United  States  navy,  rebuilding  of,  512, 

513 

United  States  prisons,  97 

United  States  Senate,  right  to  call  for 
documents,  464-469  ;  message  to, 
March  i,  1886,  464-475  ;  powers 
and  duties  of,  470  ;  power  in  re 
gard  to  appointments  to  office,  473  ; 
rejection  of  fishery  treaty  by,  501, 
502 

United  States  Supreme  Court, 
crowded  condition  of  calendar  of, 
96  ;  speech  at  centennial  of  organ 
ization,  125-127 

United  States  Treasury,  proper  func 
tions  of,  75  ;  overcrowding  of  the 
vaults  with  silver,  363,  366,  370, 
372,  373  ;  depletion  of  gold  and  in 
crease  of  silver,  366 


Universities.     See  EDUCATION. 

University  of  Michigan,  address  be 
fore,  Feb.  22,  1892,  352-362 

Utah,  suppression  of  polygamy  in, 
333-340 

VESTED  interests,  protection  of,  67,  70 

Vetoes,  of  Andrew  J.  White  pension 
bill,  377-379  J  some  notable,  433- 
461  ;  of  appropriation  for  celebrat 
ing  Decoration  Day  in  Buffalo,  May 
8,  1882,  433-435  ;'of  a  street-clean 
ing  contract  in  Buffalo,  June  26, 
1882,  435-437  ;  of  a  bill  for  pur 
chase  of  land  by  Chautauqua 
County,  437,  438  ;  of  the  Elevated 
Railroad  Five  Cent  Fare  Bill.fcMarch 
2,  1883,  438-446  ;  of  the  amend 
ments  to  the  charter  of  Buffalo, 
April  9,  1883,  447-449;  of  the 
Texas  seed  bill,  Feb.  16,  1887, 
449-451;  of  the  direct  tax  bill, 
March  2,  1889,  451-461  ;  of  pub 
lic-building  bills,  518-521 

Virginia,  speech  at  State  Fair,  Rich 
mond,  139,  140  ;  agriculture  in, 
139,  140  ;  cession  of  public  domain 
to  United  States,  424 

Visitation,  right  of,  201 

Voters,  intimidation  of,  3,  151,  152  ; 
corruption  of,  151,  152 

Vox  Populi,  vox  Dei,  122 

WAGES,  how  influenced  by  revenue 
laws,  71.  See  LABOR. 

War  Department,  classification  of  em 
ployees  in,  56 

Warner,  A.  J.,  363 

War  of  1812  pensions.    See  PENSIONS. 

War  tariff,  326;  in  time  of  peace,  21. 
See  also  TARIFF. 

War  taxation,  452 

Washington,  Geo.,  34,  36,  120,  125, 
225,  229  ;  character  of,  348-362  ; 
value  of  the  history  of  his  life,  358  ; 
education  of,  358,  359  ;  filial  affec 
tion  of,  359 

Washington,  D.  C.,  Inaugural  speech 
at,  March  4,  1885,  32-37  :  new 
post  office  for,  97  ;  address  to  Evan 
gelical  Alliance,  185,  186 

Washington  speech  at  unveiling  of 
Garfield  statue,  222-224 


INDEX. 


57' 


Washington  Inauguration  Centennial 
speech  at  New  York,  April  30, 
1889,  122-124 

Washington  State,  Democracy  of, 
481,  482 

Washington,  Treaty  of,  504,  506, 
509,  510 

Watchmen,  appointment  of,  to  clerical 
duty,  59,  60 

Waterways,  12,  65,  112.  See  also 
CANALS 

Watrous,  Chas.,  146 

Wealth,  American  race  for,  349 

Webster,  Daniel,  318  ;  statement  by, 
in  regard  to  benefits  of  a  sound  cur 
rency  upon  labor,  367 

Welland  Canal,  510 

West  Side  and  Yonkers  Patent  Rail 
way  Co.,  439,  44L  442 

WTest  Side  Elevated  Patented  Railway 
Co.  of  New  York  City,  441 

Wheat,  shipments  of,  from  New  Or 
leans,  no 

Wheat  fields,  160 

Whisky.     See  SPIRITS. 

White,  Andrew  J.,  veto  of  pension 
bill  for,  377-379 

Widows  of  Revolutionary  soldiers,  ex 
cess  of  pensioners  over  estimates, 

394 
Williams,  George  Fred.,  320 


Williams  Grove,  Pa.,  Grangers'  Picnic 
at,  140,  141 

Wisconsin,  Democracy  in,  259  ;  Dem 
ocratic  victory  in,  305 

Woman,  her  sphere.  191  ;  influence 
of,  355 

Women,  education  of.  219 

Wool,  effect  of  protective  tariff  on 
wool  raising  and  wool  consumption, 
81-83 

Workingmen.     See  LABOR. 

Workingmen's  Tariff  Reform  Associa 
tion,  102 

YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIA 
TIONS,  speeches  before,  181,  184 

Young  Men's  Democratic  Association 
of  Philadelphia,  speech  before,  Jan. 
8,  1891,  263-271 

Young  Men's  Democratic  Association, 
Canton,  O.,  letter  to,  Nov.  25,  1890, 
293-294 

Young  Men's  Democratic  Club,  Can 
ton,  O.,  letters  to.  Nov.  27,  1891, 
105,  106  ;  Nov.  22,  1889,  290 

Youngstown,  O. ,  veto  of  public-build 
ing  bill,  520,  521 

ZANESVILLE,  O..  veto  of  public-build 
ing  bill,  June  19,  1886,  518, 
519 


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